The Tata Nano: Saviour or Polluter??

The Tata Nano

The revolutionary "peoples car" the Tata Nano which was unveiled at the Delhi auto show recently has been received with great praise as well as brickbats. Praise for innovation, for its ability to turn the automotive principles on its head and most importantly for bringing within reach safe personal transportation to the teeming millions of the third world (which was only a pipe dream until now). The brickbats have mostly flowed from the usual suspects: sundry environmentalists aghast at the impact to the environment, elitists worried that even the neighbouring sabzi wala may now own a car, and competitors forced to eat their own words.


First the facts. The Tata Nano is a wonderful example of innovation at its best and testimony to India's coming of age in manufacturing. It was developed by a team of 500 young engineers led by Girish Wagh. The team started work without any clear cut specifications. All they had was a cost target of Rs 100,000 ex showroom price in the face of ever rising raw material costs. The objective was to develop a full fledged car that at least matches the Maruti 800 in performance at half its price!! By all accounts they have done it; it fact perhaps they may have even exceeded the Maruti 800! The car is car is smaller than the 800 at 3.1 meters, but thanks to innovative designing like placing the engine at the rear, it still provides 21% more space than the 800! Its high enough for a 6 ft person to easily get in and out. In fact the car was designed keeping the tall Ratan Tata in mind. It has a 623 cc twin cylinder MPFI engine that delivers 33 PS power. The engine performance is controlled by a specially designed electronic engine management system.

When the Tatas announced plans to manufacture a $2500 car, it was greeted with scorn, derision and scepticism by the big auto companies. Now that all of them have been forced to eat crow, their response has been interesting. Maruti claim that it would not be possible to manufacture a car at this price level without compromising on safety and emission standards. There have been comments in the western media that the Nano's safety is compromised by the absence of air bags. This may be true by western standards, but in India most of the small cars including Maruti don't have air bags. So it is unfair to single out the Nano for criticism. The Nano has a sheet metal body, it has a strong passenger compartment, with safety features such as crumple zones, intrusion-resistant doors, seat belts, strong seats and anchorages, and the rear tailgate glass bonded to the body. Tubeless tyres further enhance safety. It has passed Crash and impact tests. It does not have ABS brakes but neither do the base variants of the other small cars. The Nano is no less safe than the other small cars in India and all comments questioning its safety features are malicious.

Coming to emission norms, the Nano meets the Bharat III norms stipulated in India (equivalent to Euro 3) and the Tata's claim that with a little bit of tweaking, it can be made to meet the Euro 4 norms too. Forget the 800, even the Alto which is more than three times the price of the Nano meets only the Bharat 3 norms (and neither does it have airbags). So all questions raised by competition questioning the safety and emission standards of the Nano reek of hypocrisy! The environmentalists are a different breed altogether. People like RK Pachauri, chairman of the Nobel peace price winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Sunita Narain of the Centre for Science and Environment have raised dooms day scenarios for the environment. They foresee millions of cars manufactured by the tatas every year resulting in a huge increase in green house gasses. But is it physiclly possible to actually manufacture millions of vehicles per year? Manufacturing a car is not just about the Tatas setting up production facilities. A lot depends on hundreds of third party parts suppliers, raw material supplies and suply chain issues. The Tatas have planned an initial capacity of 250000 Nanos per year and plan to ramp it up to 500000 cars in the near future. They have claimed that it is not possible to increase production beyond this level. So an increase of 500,00o cars in a country where atleast 15 million automobiles are sold every year surely does not call for panic. In fact, the nano may prove to be good for the environment. An autorickshaw too costs around the same as the nano and these pollution spewing threewheelers may be replaced by nanos. In fact auto drivers from around the country have indicated that they are open to switching over to the nano. This will do immense good to not just the environments but also to the aesthetics of our traffic.







CO2 footprint

The western media too has raised concerns about the impact to the environment by the Nano. however the per capita CO2 emissions from third world countries is almost negligible when compared to the developed countries (see figure above). The developed world has been the main contributor to pollution in the name of development and they are now concerned about the increasing pollution levels in the developing countries. Why don't they reduce the carbon footprint in their own countries now that they have achieved a good standard of life? Why don't they replace their polluting SUVs with small cars like the Nano. At 25 KM/litre, the Nano would leave a much smaller footprint. In fact this is where the environmentalists should focus on. Instead we have the developed world trying to prevent the vast majority of the poor from enjoying a better life, from the comforts of their air conditioned homes and offices.
Another bogey, that the critics are raising is congestion on India's badly maintained roads. Agreed, the roads are in bad shape and the Nano will certainly lead to more congestion. But is infrastructure development the responsibility of the Tatas? Sorry, but we have the wrong people under the cross wire here. Why don't the critics pressurise the government to get its act together and improve the infrastructure? My guess is that more than the cities the Nano will hugely transform the landscape of Indias vast hinterlands. A lot of Nanos will be sold in the villages where congestion if any is caused by Bullock carts. If the Nano does replace the Rickshaws, then the city traffic would certainly get more orderly. Think of the reduced noise pollution!!

A typical Indian family on a two wheeler

Opposition to the Nano also reeks of Elitism. What gives the right to the elite to think that only they have a right to own a car and not the next door grocer? Is it because their special status of being one of the few car owners would be no longer special? Does not the common man have the right to enjoy the luxury of owning a personal vehicle? Let us recall what made Ratan Tata consider making a peoples car. He saw a typical Indian family on a bike; the man riding it, the kid perched on the tank, the woman riding side saddle with a baby on her lap. Is this not a daily sight for us Indians? How many of us ever gave a thought that the entire family was at risk here? It is a tribute to Ratan Tata that this typical lower middle class family can now travel in a safer manner. Air bags or no air bags, I guess all of us would agree that the Nano is a whole lot safer than a Bike!! Rather than taking potshots at Ratan Tata and his band of innovators, let us raise a toast to them for making safe personal transport affordable to the masses.

Wah Tata!!

Ratan Tata with the Tata Nano

January 10 2008 will go down in history as a watershed day for the automobile Industry. The revolutionary $2500 "peoples car" the Tata Nano, costing at least 50% less than any car manufactured anywhere in the world was unveiled by the septuagenarian Tata group chairman Ratan Tata. Owning a car, which was till now only a pipe dream is now well within reach of India's teeming middle classes. This is the Tata's moment in history; our very own Model T. The Nano is also testimony to the vision, perseverance and commitment of Ratan Tata.

The preceding year too was no less spectacular, what with Tata Steel acquiring the Anglo-Dutch behemoth Corus in a hard fought $12.1 billion deal. The Corus takeover was symbolic in many respects. In the early 20th century the group founder Jamsetji Tata had offered to make steel for the British controlled Indian Railways. The then chairman of British Steel (which became Corus following merger with the Dutch group Hoogovens) had scoffed volunteering to "eat every ounce of steel produced by Tata to British specifications". With the acquisition of Corus, the wheel had completed a full circle. The Empire had struck back. While the 21st century saw the Tatas silently gobble up companies from around the world like Tetley Tea and energy drink major Glaceau to name a few, it was the Corus deal that heralded the arrival of a hungry Indian Multinational corporation. The Elephant had truly woken up from its deep slumber.

2008 promises more excitement, with the Tata' s on the verge of acquiring Ford's marque brands Jaguar and the Land Rover in a $2 billion deal. Tata motors would be in the unique position of manufacturing the worlds cheapest as well as as the most expensive cars. To put things in perspective, the cost of the Nano is around the same as the cost of a DVD player in the top end Jaguars!! However what got my goat was the comment by the US Jaguar car dealers association that an Indian owned luxury car brand would not go well with US customers. This came on the back of the Orient Express's arrogant and racist comment that any association with the Tata owned Indian Hotels would result in erosion of the premium commanded by the Orient Express group hotels (on the contrary, the Tata hotels in the US command a higher revenue per room than the Orient hotels!). These responses from the US are born out of ignorance of the Tata groups pedigree.

Bombay House, headquarters of the Tata Sons

The Tata group was started in 1868 by Jamsetji Tata. The Tata group include some of the most outstanding companies of India like the flagship software firm TCS, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, the telephone service provider Tata Teleservices, the watch maker Titan, the retail chain Trent, the hotel chain Indian Hotels (who run the famous Taj brand hotels) to name a few. The steel to software conglomerate includes 98 companies operating in 85 countries employing around 400000 people, an MNC in every sense of the word. The group revenue is more than $50 billion dollars with a market cap of $72 billion and more than 2.9 million satisfied share holders.

The stratospheric numbers don't provide a complete picture of the essence of the Tata group. The Tatas are by far the most respected, loved and admired business house in India, a country which has traditionally looked down with contempt at the pursuit of wealth. The Tatas have created not personal wealth but wealth for the society at large. The family holding is just around 3%, which is why we don't see Ratan Tata's name in the list of the worlds wealthiest. The holding company Tata Sons is a grouping of charitable trusts. Local communities and groups have always been stakeholders in all Tata ventures. The Tatas have always been benevolent employers. Tata steel was the first Indian company to introduce 8 hr work shifts. When Tata steel was forced to lay off people in the 60s they ensured that the laid off workers would be paid a stipend for life!! Tata group companies always rank at the top of employee satisfaction parameters. The Tatas can be described as compassionate capitalists focused on wealth creation for the society at large. In fact one of the group values is defined as "what comes from the people goes back to the people many times over".

The Tata's have contributed immensely to society in the arts and the sciences. Jamsetji Tata set up India's premier institution for science and technology, the Indian Institute of Science (IISC). Nobelist Dr. CV Raman was a product of the IISC, which today is at the forefront of research in cutting edge technology. Other Tata institutions include the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, the Tata Institute of social sciences and the National Center for the performing arts.

The Tata's have entrenched themselves in the hearts and minds of all Indians with their brand of Compassionate capitalism. Unfortunately, Ratan may be the last Tata to preside over the group. He is the last of the Tata's, a bachelor with no heirs and no kin. Upon his impending retirement the Tatas for the first time ever will be led by a non Tata. Ratan Tata would surely have identified his successor, a person who will not just lead the Tatas to greater heights but who will also closely guard the values and ethics that the Tatas have always stood for. In response to the ignorant arrogance of the Jaguar dealers and the Orient Express management I quote Shirley Williams of the British house of Lords "God help us if we cannot learn to respect Institutions like the Tatas of India". Amen.

Why is the west so politically correct

The rise of political correctness must be causing headaches to linguists and wordsmiths. If left to the liberal intellectual and the feminists, language would soon be gender neutral.HIStory would be OURstory, MANkind would be HUMANkind; the list is quite exhaustive. But perhaps the biggest impact would be on the Vatican. God is always referred to as HE in the Bible. Coming up with a gender neutral Bible would be quite a task, that would test not just the patience but also the linguistic skills of our Biblical scholars. Finally, the way we pray in church would be different. Imagine praying "Our PARENT in heaven" instead of "Our FATHER in heaven"!!
However the biggest casualty of political correctness is Christmas (and Santa), at least in the over civilized west. Its ridiculous that the message of Peace, Joy and happiness, Merry Christmas, is taboo in the West. Merry Christmas has been replaced by "Happy Holidays". Santa has been asked to clean up his lingo. In fact a Santa was fired in Australia for singing Jingle all the way!! God alone knows whats nonsecular about Jingling Bells!! Poor Santa cant even greet with Ho Ho.I wonder whether kids actually knew the American Slang synonym of ho. But now thanks to the controversy, I bet a lot of kids would have coloured their vocabulary with dirty American slang!!

Brigade Road in Bangalore in full Christmas Splendour

I work in India for an Informational technology Services MNC. This Christmas all my non christian colleagues and myself greeted our western colleagues with Merry Christmas. We were taken aback when most of our western colleagues replied with Happy holidays!! In India, a Hindu Majority country where Christians constitute just 2% of the population, the whole country is awash with the festive atmosphere during Christmas. Even non Christians join in celebrating the spirit of Christmas. Bangalore's busy shopping arcade Brigade road would be awash with Red, and Santa greeting u with Ho Ho!! All the newspapers would have "Merry Christmas" splashed across the front page in a hue of Red. In fact India's largest selling English daily The Times of India, brought out a special Christmas edition edited by prominent Christians from Bombay!! The Majority Hindus and other minority communities like the Muslims and the Sikhs certainly did not get offended at this overt celebration of an alien Religious Festival. The most popular Hindu festival, Diwali too is publicly and uninhibitedly celebrated in grandeur by all Indians, Hindus and non Hindus alike.

When a non christian multi religious India can publicly rejoice Christmas, I wonder what prompted the christian West and Oceania to replace a beautiful greeting like Merry Christmas with the drab and gloomy sounding "happy holidays"?? Is it to avoid offending the non christian minorities? From India's experience, the non Christians certainly didn't seem to mind the celebration of Christmas, and neither do the minorities grudge the grandeur with which Diwali is celebrated. In fact I would go to the extent of saying that the public celebration of religious festivals in a unobtrusive and non coercive manner has furthered unity and secularism in India. My guess is that "happy Holidays" and other symbols of political correctness are a result of a nonspiritual and paranoid liberal intellectuals. As the former Australian President, John Howard said, let us not take Christ out of Christmas.