'People in India consider Bata to be an Indian company'
Thomas Bata, founder of the Toronto-based Bata Shoe Company - which has hundreds of manufacturing units and retail stores globally, including India -- is 93 years old. He still appears regularly at business events, retains his tremendous sense of humor and continues to be very, very sharp.
The veteran business leader was honored with the Canada-India Business Council's lifetime achievement award at a dinner reception at the Le Royal Meridien King Edward Hotel, downtown Toronto, November 15. The award coincided with the 25th anniversary of the founding of the C-IBC. Bata, who founded the C-IBC, emphatically said he loves India and Indians.
"People in India consider Bata to be an Indian company," he quipped during an interview with India Abroad. "And they occasionally complain that the shoe doesn't fit. In India we do occasionally have problems with our [labor] union leaders," he added, laughing.
"Union leaders have to do something to make their presence felt," he continued. "We talk to them and tell them it is in our mutual interest to cooperate with each other. Sometimes they listen, and sometimes they don't."
Minister for Industry Jim Prentice, the keynote speaker at the C-IBC event, hailed Bata as "a true Canadian business legend," and acknowledged that "few Canadians have led a business with the reach and success of Bata Shoes." The encomiums were echoed by C-IBC President Kim Rathee, when he invited Bata to the stage to be recognized in front of a 250-plus packed audience of businessmen and professionals.
"Canada is honored," Rathee said, "to have a business giant in the name of Thomas Bata, who at this ripe age continues to overlord his conglomerate across more than 50 countries around the globe, giving a livelihood to over 40,000 employees, serving over one million customers every day through 5,000 retail stores, which are supplied by 40 production facilities in 26 countries."
Also present to honor Bata were Ontario Minister for Small Business Harinder Takhar and C-IBC Chairman Roy Maclaren, a former minister for international trade.
'I hope all Indians wear Bata shoes'
You started the Canada-India Business Council. What do you think of business relations between these two countries now?
At a time when we started the C-IBC, there were practically no business connections between Canada and India. But look today - Canadian and Indians are the same.
But trade between the two countries is limited even now.
In our type of business, it is growing very well. We are selling shoes and the demand is growing. In other businesses it is not as great as it should be. I hope with the help of the ministry of industry and other trade departments, the trade will develop. There are a large number of people originally from India who live in Canada. It should not be too difficult for them to augment trade. When I go to big meetings, I hear all the time [how] Indians are opening businesses [in Canada]. At one such meeting, there were a couple of thousand people. They joked they were all wearing Bata shoes! They said they go to India a couple of times a year and they buy Bata shoes there. The serious side of these comments is that business people are traveling to India.
What about the potential of trade and investments between Canada and India?
In respect of merchandise, there's a lot of potential. There are two things: Merchandise, and intellectual properties, intellectual relationships. In electronics we have an intellectual relationship. In automobile, we have a physical relationship of a different kind. In Canada we have a lot of natural resources and these are going to India without being clearly marked that it is a Canadian product.
How is Bata doing?
We are growing, and growing and doing very well.
Would you say every second Indian wears Bata shoes?
I hope more than that wear Bata shoes [laughs]. I would hope that all Indians should wear Bata shoes.
So you have not had any problems in India?
On the contrary, we have had many, many problems. India used to be a rather closed country. It used to be closed for investment, trade. Certainly, it used to be closed to a lot of manufacturing activities. The country used to be closed for shareholding ownerships. All that is gradually disappearing, and India is truly becoming a world trading nation.
'People in India are now so much more mobile than earlier'
What about your workers?
The labor laws are also changing. We don't have problems with the workers but we have problems with the union organizers, union leaders; but that's their profession. Even they have come round to realizing the importance of cooperation with the management rather than fighting.
You are talking about union leaders in your factories in India?
Yes. But they are beginning to realize what's good for them, good for the company. In different cities where we have our factories, the environment is different. I think things are improving. Everybody realizes that we depend on each other. Don't forget union organizers have to show some achievements. We often meet with the labor leaders. We go very well with some of them. With some others, we go very badly.
What is your total employee strength in India?
Our workforce in India would be around 8,000 people.
When did you first travel to India?
I traveled for the first time to India during the time of Hitler, maybe in 1942.
Do you still travel to India often?
Two or three times a year.
What strikes you most in the country now?
I would say the level of education is beginning to be much higher, even though there are still limitations on basic education. But, overall, the level of education is becoming very high. Then there's the mobility of people. People in India are now so much more mobile than they used to be earlier. I am referring to their mobility within the country.
I have to also say for religious reasons, some people still continue to be concerned about cowhide being used by us for manufacturing shoes. They take objection to the killing of cows. These are local religious sentiments and local policies that we, as business people, must respect. We use cheap leather and we have synthetic leather that we use in making the shoes.
'India is making enormous progress'
What do you wish for India?
I would say prayers for the well being of people at large. I would say prayers for the health of the people and prayers for the good of the country. I have to have all those things in mind. I am happy to say I know how to make good shoes that fit the people there.
Would you say poverty is still a big problem for India?
Of course, there are such problems. But every day, the situation is improving. Education is bringing new inventions in India. Also in the agricultural sphere, India is making enormous progress. Let us not forget India is still an agrarian economy.
The disparity in the country is there, but it is rapidly disappearing. The number of poor people is declining.
What is your advice to Canadian business people?
I think Indo-Canadians travel quite a bit for trade; Canadians don't travel as much.
They are not so used to traveling, but their thinking is changing. There's no way Canadians will be doing business with India without paying attention to it, paying attention to the human relationship.
Why do you say Canadian business people don't travel?
They travel to the United States, where they have enormous opportunities. And why should they not make use of it? India also has to create more opportunities. Then, people will come.
Don't they realize they continue to place all their eggs in one economic basket and any downturn of the US economy could create serious problems for Canada?
I think Canadian business people are opening their eyes to the world much more than they used to do earlier.