Corporate Corruption

Letter “C” seems to be riding high these days in India. Confrontation of Corruption by the Common Class of a Classical Character in line with Constitutional Charter! The waves are running high and the results have been unprecedented. As a matter of fact, it is the word "corruption" from which no part of the vast society is untouched in direct or indirect way. Hence, there was this whole euphoria and at times overly energetic responses from all the parties involved in past two weeks.

No doubt, the initiatives are being taken in the right direction (may be a little late). However, it remains to be concluded whether these initiatives will suffice in eradicating the letter “C” Completely. It is a humongous task to even think of all possible forms of corruption – leave alone its eradication. One of such form of corruption is the malpractices exercised by the corporate houses or even medium size entrepreneurial businesses in order to maximize the wealth.

It is not 'only' the politicians who are responsible for the wide-spread corruption. Businessmen see it in their every right to bribe the person of authority to ask for a favour. Big companies find it appropriate to manipulate financial records to mislead an investor's decisions. Investors do not leave any stone unturned to solicit insider information to engage in stock trading. Employees do their bit in colluding with external or internal parties to skim off company’s assets and monies. Are these not a form of corruption? Absolutely. Yes.

This is a form of a corruption which seems directly proportional to the number of transactions that take place within the business community. Ironically though, it is not the risk related to the volume of transactions that occupies the center stage in audit committee meetings. In fact, the risk that is most relevant is the risk of business continuity, risk of investor disinterest, risk of unproductive cash on the balance sheet or risk of underachieved business targets. And this is where the focus comes in the way of dealing in most ethical manner. Enough corruption still exists at various levels in the entire business cycle which relates to these risks. In theory, this constitutes a part of enterprise risk management (ERM).

Yet, we witness corporate scandals of big or small form not so infrequently. I wonder can ERM be most effective when the intent itself is questionable. Can any professional body design a way to curb those malicious intents? Probably no. The pre-requisite then is to conduct the business with utmost integrity and arm’s length way. Alas but true, the fight against corruption has a long way to go! There is a need to institutionalize anti-corrupt practices in daily affairs – in mind, body and soul.

Happy Independence Day!

Here is an occasion that speaks volumes of a country which is so vastly beautiful. Every part of her is diversified yet so elegant. Every river flowing through her is sacred yet so melodious. Every words of wisdom crowning her to glory is powerful yet so sweet. I pay a grand salute to the very existence of this country and the people who make it even more exciting and merrier. Happy Independence Day!

Playing for The National Pride?

A lot has been written and talked about India’s dismal performance in England in the ongoing battle of supremacy in the test cricket. For some reasons, it deserved to be talked about. It ought to have been abhorred by an ardent cricket fan especially after reading the tally i.e. 2-0 in England’s favour at the half way stage of the series.

There is no hidden truth about the fact that fast seaming, swinging and bouncy wickets are where India is not able to dominate the world of cricket (read test cricket). Though they have been improving their records overseas in the last decade, there is always a possibility that we might lose a test series in South Africa, Australia and England (England being least possible). At the heart of every Indian cricket fan, there is always this fear. Fear may come true, but a fan does not hope that fear to be most horrendous. Probably, this is what has happened over the past fortnight.

Honestly, we never did enough to be no. 1 for a long time and winning test matches overseas in patches has not helped either. Unless you win a series 2-0 or 3-0, you may not be branded the champions of test cricket. However, team India has done enough to be in top three for a long time and every expectation of them beating England in England is absolutely valid. It is still valid. Valid when you look into history and when you look into the capabilities of our stalwarts.

So what has gone wrong? Almost everything and media has touched upon all these factors in details. If I had to pick few factors, I would definitely question the schedule, players’ fees and relevance of IPL (Injury-prone League or Incredible Paisa League). Barely a week into celebration of that historical night, all our players came back to play IPL – mind you, none of these senior or not so senior players missed a single game. Gautam and Zaheer played till the last despite sustaining injuries. Viru played each game, waited until Daredevils were knocked out finally and then proceeded for an important shoulder surgery. Who cares if there are a series of international cricket to be played on hard turf?

More on the technique front, it is easy to put the front foot out of the line and smack the ball over the long on or mid-wicket boundary on the flattest of Indian tracks. The same swashbucklers were (are) targeted on every part of upper body from time to time and still, they care a zilch. There is no coach to train how to take the bat and body out of the line of a rising delivery. There is no board to create a good sustainable and technically rich talent pool and develop a cricket system which can protect the likes of Badrinath, Wasim Jaffer and Cheteshwar Pujara and assure them of a berth in test squad. It is a real shame that on the one hand players like Yusuf Pathan, his brother Irfan and Robin Uthappa are being paid millions of US dollars in IPL and on the other hand, we are struggling to find an able replacement of Sourav Ganguly at no. 6 in the test team.

There was a time when The National Pride used to drive billions of us to play for the country. Is it still going to be the same?