Shri R.C. Bhargava on Maruti Suzuki: The India–Japan Success Story | Rising Sun Conclave 3

Okay. Thank you, Nupo. And a very good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I had no idea that I would be required to speak. But since it is about my association with Suzuki and with Japan, it's not a difficult subject to speak upon.

When Maruti was established, we were looking around for a car manufacturer. And initially, government was itself trying to find somebody who would join with it to make cars in India. When Maruti was established as a company and we came on the scene, we were faced with a situation where a European manufacturer had already been selected by the government. At that time, Japan was already at the peak of its success in the automobile industry. Europe and America had all fixed quotas for the number of Japanese cars which could be exported to their countries. And I was wondering at that time why are we looking for a partner in Europe? Why not in the country which has obviously shown that it is the most competitive manufacturer of cars in the world? It took some time to persuade the government. But we did manage, specially because we found, and we found this from books, because none of us had any knowledge, none of us had traveled outside to see what cars were available, that Japan also had small cars. And we wanted a small car. Anyway, that is how the journey and association with Japan started.

The partnership with Suzuki is well known. It was established, what, 83 years ago now in 1982. And since then we have worked together to make cars in India, to sell cars in India, to give the people of India the most comfortable, convenient, economical means of transport.

So, how did it happen? I think the one thing which I have learned is that in Japan they give a great deal of value to personal relationships. And the first time that we met with Osamu Suzuki, the then young president of Suzuki Motor Company, he somehow took a liking or felt that there was a good chemistry between Mr. Krishnamurthy, myself, and himself. And without doing any due diligence about the Indian market, what a public sector company in India meant, what car manufacturing and sales in India meant, what the component industry in India was, things which normally any company in the world would look into before deciding to put money into that country to manufacture cars. But Mr. Suzuki didn't look at any of that. He just looked at two persons and said, 'Yes, I think India is a big country. It has to have a big future. What is going on today is not necessarily what will go on in the next 50 years. And I'm willing to work in this country with these two guys.' And that's it.

So, it's an approach of the Japanese which you will not find anywhere in the world. And I think this relationship with Japan, or more specifically the relationship with Osamu Suzuki, was the real basis of success of Maruti Suzuki.

We, when we started Maruti, with two basically people at the top management, Mr. Krishnamurthy and myself. Mr. Krishnamurthy was a veteran of the public sector. He was the most outstanding manager of the public sector. But he had no knowledge of car manufacture or anything to do with the car industry. I was a totally ignorant civil servant. And had no idea not only about cars, except of course I owned a car and I drove one, or about industry, or about manufacturing, or about anything to do with this kind of business. So, we were the two guys whom Mr. Suzuki selected as people he thought we could work with. It just shows that he was not looking at these guys have big experience in the car industry, etc., etc. He just thought that these guys will actually learn to do the business for me. Mr. Krishnamurthy was there only for a short time. Afterwards, the ball was with me.

Now, one advantage I had is not knowing anything about this industry. How was that an advantage? Because then I could learn everything from the best teacher in the world. And believe me, Mr. Suzuki himself was an outstanding teacher. I think in his heart of hearts, he always wanted to be a teacher. And of course, the Japanese by their own example. If you look at the way the Japanese act, think, live, you can learn so much which can be used to improve all our lives. Unfortunately, a lot of us travel to Japan, see how the Japanese live, what they do. When we come back to India, we revert to some of our old ways. Punctuality, cleanliness, lack of consideration for others, lack of consideration for laws. And that's why there has remained a gap between the economies and the society for that matter of Japan and India. I think it's changing. I think the younger generation in India is learning more and more the ways, Japanese type of ways, which will lead to success. And I believe that this journey with Japan which I've had has been one long journey of learning. From being a bureaucrat who knew only about civil services and rules and precedents, I learned a lot about how to manage in industry, how to manage a company, how to look beyond the short term, to look in the long term, to take decisions which were not just for the moment, but which would lead to good results forever in the future and things of that kind.

We lost Mr. Suzuki a little over a year ago. His last journey was to India in July 2024. He came here because it was my 90th birthday. He was advised by all his physicians and others not to travel. He was almost 94. But he said, 'No, I have to go.' And he came here. He brought with him a painting which he had got done in Japan based on a photograph which he and I had taken a year earlier in Japan where both of us are sitting and holding each other's hands in partnership. I think that in a sense epitomizes what the partnership with Japan is and what I believe about Japan and what I believe that the future lies in Japan and India working together.

I think what these two countries can bring together is something phenomenal. I don't think that we should at all have any egos in learning and adapting many of the Japanese practices because they are practices which are of great human value. And if we do that and if Japanese and Indians work in a true spirit of partnership, I think there's no stopping where this partnership can take the people and societies of both countries. So, thank you very much for having me here. Thank you very much for giving me this opportunity of sharing a few of my thoughts with you and all the very best to all.

Now, if I understand you correctly, I think the Japanese values and Indian values fundamentally are very similar. I think many of our traditional practices are very similar. I think we are two countries who still very much value the older generation. We look after our parents and our grandparents. So do the Japanese. They have religious functions where they remember the past generations. Right. Obon. They have many things which are very similar to us. But they have things as I mentioned, some of their practices, I won't repeat them. And I think we should learn and adapt those. I think these were not our basic Indian principles in the past. I think these are values or habits which we picked up only in the last century. Where some of them earlier, where I think we can only think of ourselves, we don't think of our neighbor. I think it's most important to understand, and that's what I learned from the Japanese, that if we all grow together, we will all grow much better than if we try and grow at the expense of others. The old story, most of you must have heard about the Indian crabs pulling each other down, and no crab can get to the top because somebody pulls him down. I think in Japan, if they were crabs, they would all be pushing each other up. That's the difference.