The other day, we were discussing placements in NIT Trichy, just like jobless third year guys with lots of time to kill and contemplating salaries and recession. The subject veered to one MNC called John Deere which pays a miserly four point something to us lesser mortals despite being the largest tractor-producing company in the world.
On the assumption that you agree with me that we do figure among the brightest minds in this country and on the fact that JD, an extremely high worth company, is fully capable of paying us numbers many times the one being paid, we started speculating on the reasons why such a thing happens in a top institution in India whereas our counterparts in luckier parts of the world get paid far more.
Then I realized, Its East India Company all over again !!
The British decided and did actually come to India because of a very good reason. They wanted to buy cheap products in India and sell them at premium rates across the world. Things eventually went from trading to settling to establishing colonies to monopolizing and exploitation and everything else. The rest as they say is history and like your middle school classes you can forget it now.
Fast forward a couple of centuries, Western companies like John Deere and Harvey Brothers ,the Lehmann Sisters , the Microhard and Ooogle are doing what we dint – Learn History in junior high and apply it to business. They selected India of all second and third world nations since they know it is the land of resources. In the 1800s it was the spices and the silk and the gold , now it’s the cash hungry intellect and brains of the great Indian middle class. Mental labour is cheap and they know we have written articles in newspapers about brain-drain-so they did something even better. Create low paying jobs here in India only. Not only do they have to pay less here but they get their work done with minimum hassle and sell the product (like before) at premium rates all over the world. And the sad part is , we would not see the consumerism that is driving India Inc. and with it all the India Shining drama and theatrics without these MNCs.
Like I said , its East India Company all over again !!
