Kirloskar Systems CMD Vikram Kirloskar airs concerns at Mysuru Literature Festival-2020

Mysore/Mysuru: Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Kirloskar Systems Vikram Kirloskar regretted that over the years, respect and mutual trust among the society, institutions and the Government have eroded and there is an urgent need to address this trust deficit. “We must work together to narrow the trust deficit,” he said. 

Vikram Kirloskar was speaking at a virtual session ‘Times in the New Age’ held as part of Mysuru Literature Festival-2020, hosted by Mysuru Literary Forum and Charitable Trust and Mysuru Book Clubs – 2015, on the fourth day last evening. The session was moderated by writer Aroon Raman. Mysuru Literary Forum and Charitable Trust Chairperson Shubha Sanjay Urs was present. 

Vikram Kirloskar, who also serves on the National Council of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), said that the trust deficit was a result of large-scale scams and voluminous Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) in the banking sector that have accumulated over the  years of inaction. 

“Trust deficit we have talked about again. For people who don’t follow the law, be very strict and close those issues. But generally most people are following the law. Do not unnecessarily criminalise people who follow the law. People who are running legitimate business should not be hampered by all kinds of laws which make it difficult to run the business,” he opined. 

More competitive: Industry should run in a transparent way and we also request the Government to run in a transparent manner. That’s the only way you can build trust and that cannot happen overnight. “As industrialists, we have to respect law. Even in delivering products and services, we need to be more competitive and focus on cost, quality and environment. People are looking for more competitive product which is more cost-effective,” Vikram Kirloskar said. 

Delving on the issues plaguing the industry, he said that nowadays people do not have the respect for skills. “In Japan, the person who makes pots or a potter is given the same respect as the boss of a company. I feel we are not spending enough time on humanities — in learning arts, crafts, literature, history and geography. We must understand our culture and see it as part of our lives,” he opined. 

Protect skills and cut expenses: Airing his views on the questions posed by entrepreneur and author Aroon Raman, Vikram Kirloskar said that owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the country and the industry was looking at pre-vaccine and post-vaccine strategies. “Now most of the major projects are on hold and our challenge is to protect skills and to cut expenses. The call for Aatma Nirbhar Bharat must be seen as an effort to look inwards where we move forward to protect our indigenous companies and products and not focus on becoming a global leader. We have to become self-reliant and I would add that the Indian economy has become stable due to the advancements in agriculture. The time is to focus on creating more jobs and boost research and development,” he said.

Minimal Government regulation: Vikram Kirloskar said that India cannot afford to be pessimistic now. “We cannot be pessimistic, we have to be optimistic in the sense the India story is still good, we still have a large domestic market which a lot of countries don’t have. We do have skill and the economic condition of our country is not that bad compared to a lot of countries. We have to respect the skills and look at a way to move forward. We must encourage innovation and look at other alternatives — say like looking at electric cars, bio fuels and replicate China or Japan that are looking at hydrogen as an alternative fuel,” he said. 

Dwelling on the future of economy, he said that for a better future, the country needs minimal Government regulation and an open economy. “States like Karnataka are doing much related to lands and labour to create a favourable climate for industries and this is a positive step,” Vikram Kirloskar said.