Raha, ONGC, Government - subverting business

It was announced on Wednesday, 24th May 2006 that there would not be any extension of the tenure of Mr.Subir Raha, CMD of ONGC India even though he has still almost 2 years of service period left. This is not quite the normal norm which is followed in the PSU sector where the government is charged with delay in action and going with the status quo. This was a rare case in point where they removed a head of a company even though he had time on his side.
Government said in business terms, Raha’s contract as CMD of ONGC has not been extended. They also said that this was nothing unusual and was not done to teach him a lesson for his past acts. We as law abiding citizens and passive followers of events have not uttered anything as this is neither illegal nor immoral. But, I guess there is something more to look into this from a totally different perspective to judge government’s action.
This was a case where government has terminated the responsibility of a CMD who has been credited with transforming the business of the organization he headed. ONGC earnings had increased from Rs.22,841 Crore (approx) to almost Rs.50,900 crores during these 5 years. Profit has become more than double (from Rs. 6,197 crore to Rs.14,175 crore) and also it has transformed itself into one of those behemoths in the Indian industry which generated enough funds for the country. Also he has been responsible for transforming ONGC Videsh Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of ONGC into a successful venture (having generated a streamline cash flow of Rs.4.19 billion for the next 4-5 years from 21 different countries), which, before his tenure was on the verge of shut down. These are in business terms real achievements and do not vanish like promises of political parties in India. The amount of wealth he generated for our country and especially for the PSU in question is real and through fierce competition.
Alas, government turned the other way and put emphasis (unofficially though) on his differences with higher authorities (read, former oil minister Mr.Manishankar Ayer and the then Oil secretary) as he rubbed them the wrong way. This was done because Raha, as a CMD, thought he owned his decisions and asked the minister not to interfere in business.
Any novice in business would understand that this is how business leaders work and make their company world class. To create a world class business behemoth you need to have business acumen and also strong mind. All business people would vouch for that. But our government is more concerned with meek subordination of bureaucrats to the ministers and is against building the country to a stronger, wealthier nation. This also shows their inflexibility and short-sightedness on their part. We expected better deal from a prime minister who understands economics and business much better than most of us and prefers to be known as an intellectual rather than politician.
Time and again government has acted on whims and vendetta, over the years they have shifted and altered the bureaucracy according to their personal choice to suit their political goals and never thought of excellence and competition for betterment of PSUs. They prefer to have rather underperforming but blind "jo huzurs" instead of excellent and straight minds. This has once again proved why best brains do not prefer to work in PSUs and also why performance oriented people does not like the set up we present to them as a country and society.
It is time we strive for excellence and performance instead of typical government clerical mentality of just surviving somehow through the odds by increasing salary and trade unions. It is time we pause and take a calculated look at our future to get a rude shock. Else we would be in real danger of loosing all the glories we are generating as an effect of globalization.
Probably, that would not be the India we would want to live in.