[khanak]

Originally Posted by iraghava

Khanak - If you look at the present scenario (USA) & history (UK) you'll notice that if the company & it's products are not good enough, no level of Govt. protection is going to save them. Classic examples are the British car industry which were the leader during the 50's/60's with successful & flourishing brands like Jaguar/Rover/MG/Triumph/RR/Bentley/Mini/Austin/Land Rover etc. They were among the world leaders during their time & even then today not one of them is British owned & a lot of them are defunct. Similarly look at the trouble the American industry is in now, they are struggling for survival.

Point is if the products you produce are not good enough then in the long-term nothing can save you, no matter how favourable the Govt. policies are. Sooner or later one is going to have to implement the WTO rules (current scenario) & that is when the real challange will come when companies will be able to introduce competitive, modern cars at competitive prices. That is when our domestic car makers will really feel the heat & we as consumers will have real choice of state-of-the-art vehicles.

Consider this, we're today exporting cars like the Santro/Getz/Alto etc. to developed countries since we produce them cheaper & the import duty there is minimal. What if tomorrow those countries decided like us to implement heavy duties on importing cars? Won't that mean a loss of business & revenue for our manufacturers?

I agree, Nothing can help save a poorly managed company. Is Tata a poorly managed company? The point I am trying to make is that companies like Tata needed the time to develop themselves and make themselves competent. Some companies used the protection to their advantage and bettered themselves over time while some companies like Premier failed to develop themselves.