A government department, which engages third party workers on the lowest bid will always be a shoddy affair – run like any other government building in India full of clerks jabbering away about their sorry middle class life and no mindful activity about innovation, customer delight or even profits
Any good company (not a lala company) ensures the following: 1) Company’s growth in terms of intellectual property, physical assets, profitability and profits 2) Employees growth in terms of skill development and process knowledge development 3) Customer loyalty through various product and service packaging 4) Continuous shop floor upgradation and process development.
However, all this happens only if the organization is a corporate entity with some or major exposure to the stock market through listing. Until it stays a government department with unlimited annual budgetary grants to absorb losses, serving the vote bank with crumbs from the consolidated fund of India, it will remain a shoddy affair.
The illiterate political class will protest citing the poorest of the poor. The counter argument is the privatization of airlines in India.
Before 1991, when civil aviation was privatized in India, the cost of an average Indian Airlines ticket was anywhere between Rs 12,000/- and Rs 20,000/- in face value terms. In real terms, it must be even higher.
Today, air tickets cost on an average anywhere between Rs 5,000/- and Rs 10,000/- in face value terms. Even the private airports are offering much better service and customer delight.
Currently, Indian Railway employees at all levels receive no global level specialized training to think of customer delight and profitability. They never will until the Railways becomes a profitable company.
But who will bell the cat? Who has the werewithal to transform the Railways?
