As Indians, we have seen our fare share of scandals and scams. But we now live in a highly connected world, and our scammers need to evolve as well to keep up with this evolution of technology. Scandals and Scams in India are no longer a third-world page-10 news that no body cares about, and ones that are easily swept under the carpet. India is constantly under a microscope and everything we do is talked about in all corners of the Investing world.
So, in this environment, how big of a risk is it to host global sporting events such as the Cricket World Cup? The recent ticketing fiascos go on to show how grossly mismanaged the easiest of the things can be. One would imagine that selling tickets might be one of the simpler things to accomplish in organizing an event. But no sir, Bengaluru Karnataka, arguably one of the better organized and run domestic Cricket boards in India, is the latest victim to some good old fashioned mismanagement. As reported by a Karnataka Cricket board employee, Income Tax officials rang the doorbells at the Chinnaswamy stadium on Friday morning to conduct an ‘inquiry’. These sleuths were on to something! Due to the last minute running around, the board officials requested them to come back later, but the inquiry could not be postponed under any circumstances!! After a lot of jostling, the tax officials yielded in return to 20 tickets to the Sunday game. Justice comes in many different flavors apparently.
And between the bribes, Corporate Hospitality, Sponsors’ shares and BCCI sahebs, there is no one who can put an accurate number on the tickets that can be sold to the poor general public. There have been utter chaos on internet ticketing sites, and people beaten to pulp at the stadiums while trying to buy tickets in person. These events come in the wake of yet another lethargy-induced-debacle resulting in Kolkata losing its highest profile WC game. All this happens when the World media has anchored in India, watching, observing and reporting.
Commonwealth games gave us a perfectly good example too of how naked we can really be when looked at from an outside perspective. NY Times ran three cover stories showing some pretty embarrassing pictures of the utter chaos that supposedly was the preparation for CWG. It is good in a way, you might think, because bringing these issues out in the open might push the authorities to take action and set examples. But alas, the events get over, the global media leaves, and what is left behind are lengthy court proceedings that go from page 1 to mid sections, and then eventually slip off the newspapers altogether. Then comes another global event, and another time for reflections.
What the Indian Government needs to realize is that apart from the routine embarrassment, these global revelations of corruption and mismanaged Government agencies are having much more far reaching impacts. India’s economy has shown recession-defying growth in the recent years, and there is no secret that a big part of this growth rides on the strong influx of Foreign Direct Investments. New York Times ran a story yesterday on how the foreign investment in India has dipped by a staggering 31 percent in 2010. A third of it, gone! Investment houses and the big-sharks have repeatedly cited our recent scandals as primary reasons to start pulling money out of this volatile market. The fiascos at CWG are mentioned right along with the recent wireless 2G scams as well as Vodafone-Hutchinson episodes. The simple fact is that when a foreign investor’s faith in the basic Government structures is shaken, there are serious repercussions.
Global events are meant to be advertisements to showcase a country’s sustainability, potential and stability. But it is a double-edged sword as we are beginning to see now. When you invite the world to your home, you better make sure that things are neat and tidy.
A 31 percent dip in direct investments is not a laughing matter. And the part that these globally-ridiculed gross mishaps play in redefining a country‘s image is not either.
India can boast of economic growth and sky scrapers at length. But until we get our act together like a true economic powerhouse, we can’t strive to become one.
With great global events comes great responsibility.
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