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Timesonline.co.UK
Rhys Blakely in Bombay
GREATER NOIDA, INDIA -
Indian business leaders have expressed outrage at a government minister's comment that the beating to death of a chief executive by a mob of sacked workers "should serve as a warning for management".
Lalit Choudhary, 47, the head of the Delhi-based operations of Graziano Trasmissioni, an Italian car parts maker, died of head wounds on Monday after being lynched by scores of employees he had dismissed.
The incident, at Graziano's plant in Greater Noida, a suburb of the Indian capital, came after a dispute between the factory's management and workers who had demanded better pay and permanent contracts. Mr Choudhary was holding a meeting with more than 100 former staff to discuss a possible reinstatement deal when the attack occured.
The murder has left much of corporate India in shock. However, Oscar Fernandes, who heads India's Ministry of Labour and Employment, declined to criticise the attack.
The minister said: "Workers should be dealt with compassion … Workers should not be pushed so hard that they resort to whatever happened."
The Government has admitted that there exists widespread resentment among the hundreds of millions of Indians who have failed to benefit from their country's economic renaissance.
Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister, has often conceded that India's recent tearaway GDP growth figures of close to 9 per cent a year do not tally with most of the electorate's experiences. Earlier this year he unveiled a massive debt waiver for India's poor farmers in an attempt to make India's growth more inclusive — one of several such populist policies.
But Indian business groups reacted with disbelief to Mr Fernandes's
suggestion that a workforce's "simmering discontent" justified the beating to death of a boss.
"I cannot believe that someone in the Government is condoning something like this," Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said.
"An innocent man has died. I am frankly flabbergasted. I am shocked."
The Confederation of Indian Industry said that there was "nothing in the world that can justify lynching of any person and no dispute can be settled by murdering an adversary."
The body had earlier given warning that the mob killing — one of several violent episodes to have blighted Indian industry in recent months — will tarnish India's global standing as a place to do business.
The country has already experienced a massive exodus of foreign capital from its stock markets this year after Wall Street's meltdown. India, which is also battling a surge in inflation and the first slowdown in GDP growth for three years, can little afford to spurn overseas investment.
Graziano immediately demanded an apology for what it called Mr Fernandes's "very unfortunate comment". The minister later said that he had not meant to condone violence.
In a statement issued from Rivoli in Italy, the company said that some of Mr Choudhary's attackers had no connection with the company. It added that the chief executive was killed by "serious head injuries caused by the intruders".
"We absolutely condemn the attack," Marcello Lamberto, the head of Oerlikon Segment Drive Systems, which owns Graziano, said.
"This is by no means a regular labour conflict but is truly criminal action. The whole of Oerlikon Group is close to the family of Mr Chaudhary in this terrible moment."
Rhys Blakely in Bombay
GREATER NOIDA, INDIA -
Indian business leaders have expressed outrage at a government minister's comment that the beating to death of a chief executive by a mob of sacked workers "should serve as a warning for management".
Lalit Choudhary, 47, the head of the Delhi-based operations of Graziano Trasmissioni, an Italian car parts maker, died of head wounds on Monday after being lynched by scores of employees he had dismissed.
The incident, at Graziano's plant in Greater Noida, a suburb of the Indian capital, came after a dispute between the factory's management and workers who had demanded better pay and permanent contracts. Mr Choudhary was holding a meeting with more than 100 former staff to discuss a possible reinstatement deal when the attack occured.
The murder has left much of corporate India in shock. However, Oscar Fernandes, who heads India's Ministry of Labour and Employment, declined to criticise the attack.
The minister said: "Workers should be dealt with compassion … Workers should not be pushed so hard that they resort to whatever happened."
The Government has admitted that there exists widespread resentment among the hundreds of millions of Indians who have failed to benefit from their country's economic renaissance.
Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister, has often conceded that India's recent tearaway GDP growth figures of close to 9 per cent a year do not tally with most of the electorate's experiences. Earlier this year he unveiled a massive debt waiver for India's poor farmers in an attempt to make India's growth more inclusive — one of several such populist policies.
But Indian business groups reacted with disbelief to Mr Fernandes's
suggestion that a workforce's "simmering discontent" justified the beating to death of a boss.
"I cannot believe that someone in the Government is condoning something like this," Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said.
"An innocent man has died. I am frankly flabbergasted. I am shocked."
The Confederation of Indian Industry said that there was "nothing in the world that can justify lynching of any person and no dispute can be settled by murdering an adversary."
The body had earlier given warning that the mob killing — one of several violent episodes to have blighted Indian industry in recent months — will tarnish India's global standing as a place to do business.
The country has already experienced a massive exodus of foreign capital from its stock markets this year after Wall Street's meltdown. India, which is also battling a surge in inflation and the first slowdown in GDP growth for three years, can little afford to spurn overseas investment.
Graziano immediately demanded an apology for what it called Mr Fernandes's "very unfortunate comment". The minister later said that he had not meant to condone violence.
In a statement issued from Rivoli in Italy, the company said that some of Mr Choudhary's attackers had no connection with the company. It added that the chief executive was killed by "serious head injuries caused by the intruders".
"We absolutely condemn the attack," Marcello Lamberto, the head of Oerlikon Segment Drive Systems, which owns Graziano, said.
"This is by no means a regular labour conflict but is truly criminal action. The whole of Oerlikon Group is close to the family of Mr Chaudhary in this terrible moment."