Piyush Goyal Ko Gussa Kyun Aata Hai?

Moneylife Digital Team 14 August 2021

The unprovoked outburst by the Union commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal wherein he called India Inc's business practices as being against national interests, has left corporates baffled. While the corporates may be feeling 'helpless' since even the Confederation of India Industry (CII), an industry body, removed the video of Mr Goyal's 19-minute tirade from its website, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), however, has supported Mr Goyal.

One industrialist, who did not want to be named, says, "This exposes the mindset of this government, everything else is just headline grabbing at the event. And if this is not the government's mindset then Mr Goyal should either be sacked or asked to issue a public apology. Otherwise, bureaucrats will take this as a reflection of government attitude and continue to harass the business community."

According to a report from The Hindu, after the minister’s remarks at the annual meet of the Confederation of India Industry stirred up a hornets’ nest in the higher echelons of the government, the CII was asked to pull down the video from its YouTube channel. An edited version was uploaded on Thursday night but this too was blocked by Friday evening.

Mr Goyal also expressed deep anguish that Tata Sons had opposed the rules framed by his ministry to help consumers, the report says.

Quoting Mr Goyal the report says, "Me, Myself, My company —We all need to go beyond this approach...Kya aapke jaisi company, ek do aapne shaayad koi videshi company kharid li… Uska importance zyaada ho gaya, desh hith kam ho gaya? (A company like yours, maybe you bought one or two foreign companies, now their importance is greater than national interest?)"

While delivering the keynote address, the minister says that 75 years ago we worked to get freedom; now, we must work in mission mode to become aatmanirbhar. "We have a never-before opportunity to take the country to the sphere of fast-track growth, development and prosperity. At 75, it is about time we look at how far we have come and the journey ahead," he added.

130 cr Indians reflect the possibilities that India has to offer. It's our USP, and should become our unlimited source of growth potential & prosperity. ~ Shri @PiyushGoyal, Minister @CimGOI, @TexMinIndia, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution at #CIIAnnualMeeting2021 pic.twitter.com/4Xc94Efs5F
— Confederation of Indian Industry (@FollowCII) August 12, 2021

In a statement, CAIT hailed Mr Goyal for urging Indian corporates to prioritise national interest above self-interest. BC Bhartia, national president, and Praveen Khandelwal, national secretary general of CAIT say, "It is highly unfortunate that a reputed name like the Tatas is opposing the government’s draft consumer protection rules for e-commerce which have been proposed to protect the consumers from the frivolous e-commerce companies as well as the large Indian and multinational e-commerce marketplace companies who manipulate end consumer pricing and do predatory/discriminatory pricing which may be attractive in the short run but will ultimately be against the interest of consumers."

Mr Goyal's outburst also evoked angry reactions on social media. Manish Tiwari, a member of Parliament (MP) and a senior national spokesperson of Congress commented, "You reap what you sow INDIA INC."

You reap what you sow INDIA INC

Bombay Club 1.0 created NDA/BJP Govt between 2012-2014.

Threw collective weight behind one individual and not even one party.
&
now @PiyushGoyal terms them anti - national.

?????? ??@FollowCII https://t.co/HkVzvVROAE
— Manish Tewari (@ManishTewari) August 14, 2021

Comments

User

sucheta

3 years ago

Few facts for some readers. 1) we can report only what the minister said. He did not go into details. Contrary to some of your expectations we will not speculate about what was in his mind. This is a report not an analysis. So if you have already read it before you can just move on to another article. 2) the government has got CII to remove details and the video of his outburst. So unless the Minister speaks out and clarifies anything we say about the reason for his anger against industry or the Tata group will be mere speculation 3) Making intemperate comments is in fashion, but commentator Subray may note that this is part of Moneylife's FREE subscription , so the jibe about "charging" is not applicable. If he is a paid subscriber he would be aware that the ONLY charged portion is that which has stock related analysis or specific investment instruments.

tapanksur

Replied to sucheta comment 3 years ago

these days it is a fashion to lunge on to a point made. Few days back i wanted to invest in a Biotech IPO from Dehradun, checked their website, complained to sebi, as the site had wrong info on phone no, nor the email through their site was taking off, sebi as usual wrote back everything fine, I checked, everything was the same on the co. website. Alerted my friends, some wrote back that they would still invest in the IPO. This what we as investors have become, absolute greed & emotion taking over our decisions, and when things go wrong, they blame the govt. of the day. We are strange. But good things must go on, those who are arrogant & blind can remain so, to their peril.

saharaaj

3 years ago

corporate is part of national eco system Business like politicians stack stakes in the same way as Political operatives

mudit3

3 years ago

He wants to appear more loyal than the king

Subray

3 years ago

I agree with what some of the readers have said that it is absolutely a copy paste article. You have started to be like Twitter, wherein big leaders repeat and quote articles, which is acceptable to them and as per their line of thought.
Your charging for some of your digital media is understandable but do not let your standard down.

anant.9196

3 years ago

ML awaiting an in-depth article on the issues involved. Copy paste is not what is expected from you.

vram2311

3 years ago

Poor reporting . The article must stress on what was told , the rules being framed and why Tatas are raising an objection . This is a copy paste article

tapanksur

3 years ago

may be fantastic things will happen, After selling away PSU's, there may be a way to take over profitable Tata, Reliance & Adanis? In the interest of the country & to be patriotic may be all will be given away. Fantastic & interesting times! with coffers empty, this may be a way out!

sha79

3 years ago

Can ML team please add more details about this incident? It is not clear what the minister said, why the CAIT is supporting the minister, which government policy Tata Sons is opposing, and how they are lobbying against it.

Even if the minister was angry, was his anger justified? It would be good to add more details.

Dr Ruchir Jadav

3 years ago

I still dont understand why he was angry. What was the draft or rule opposed by tata sons? Too little information