Is quality a myth in India??

In India, Quality is understood as cost escalating.

Is understood as a stamp or certificate or showpiece.

Is at best applied on comparatives.  Low invest into R& D is as well an associated symptom.

At best it gets applied with pressures that clearly state it is well understood and willingly adopted.

Reason: Money is primely treated as 'The Goal', and is felt as much more important than how? which is the process. So long term is forever out of vision with all the focus on short term. 

Result: we end up as poor finishers or at minimum wavering on adherence.

Thanks for refer Meena.

@ Riya,If India is an agricultural country than why is the stupid Government importing pulses from Canada? (MASUR DAAL) to be precise...

Yes Vivek we understand your discomfort L andT, is a quality global company Like Microsoft IBM where as Shivangi is from Radio Mirchi!!

From my earlier blog the feedback that I received was like I got a raw cut goat with blood still oozing its heart bobbing put on the global dinner table.

Anything better I try to do to make it palatable will be like reinventing fire, wheel (carts to cars), to learn how to throw the stone little far to hit the target (goliath or goat) Rifle to missile.

Shivangi you are from Radio Mirchi the radio is “western” The mirchi (spice) is Indian, it is for this mirchi (spice) that Europeans came to India, and Columbus discovered America. The west never bothered about Indian standard, our only significant contribution is the number Zero to the world of mathematics.

We are either a taxi (cab) driver or taxi (cab) rider. Are we the owner? Do we manufacture? Do we design? Did we invent? We copy.  Why? It’s not ours!! Why is it not ours? We don’t have leaders!! Why don’t we have leaders? We are Indians simple.

The Americans nurture talent to produce quality, innovation, new paradigm in every sphere of life. Why? They live by performance influenced by their leaders, they are no colonial force unlike British. I have been all over India, have worked with Americans.

lets all of us ask ourselves one question, how many of us really pay for quality, a quality product is a little more expensive always as to maintain quality we need to give the necessary input in terms of good quality raw material, workmanship etc. but sincerely speaking how many of us understand this and pay that extra buck when it comes to purchases

Yes. I agree with you Nehajee!

It is a myth.

Global standards: By definition global standards change from place to place. EU according to BRC Global standards describes in a different way (seehttp://www.brcglobalstandards.com). Where as US according to (http://gsi.nist.gov) may define in another way. 

There are many categories and criteria to determine actually If a product or a manufacturing technique has to be considered to be of Global standard.

Coming to Indian scenario, India was not an Industry based economy. We were agriculture based. It is only recently that we are going global slowly. And our service industry which contributes close to 60% of the Nominal GDP has come to this stage not over night but over time.

And about products, YES, We Indians are taught to adjust ourselves in any given situation. We are used to it. We do not like pointing out flaws. We underestimate ourselves to a very bad extent whether knowingly or unknowingly.

Indian products or services or the Manufacturing techniques and standards can reach up to the Global level when WE start to question these aspects at each purchase stop, In each Newspaper, each Politician and each Businessman. 

When we are educated enough to understand "what is coming from where and how", Our products or India as a whole can become Global. The reason why I supported the argument YES ITS A MYTH is because its ONLY and ONLY when we are educated and enough aware of what is happening with the companies and their products, they can be of Global standards according to any definition. 

Before it was Not, but now Yes, it is a myth in India. Where ever u see there is a mixing... There is no quality in any commodity you take. Vegetables are grown by using pesticides and antibiotics in agricultural soils (Read More), all our groceries are mixed. The quality food are exported and we are left with bad quality one's. In todays scenario, the quality food is out of common man's reach. Expecting a good quality is actually a sin in India....

I Agree.

It is not that there is no awarenes about quality.

My problem is that by and large "Quality", be it in our Work, Products or Attitude takes a very low priority.

"Sastha Karo; Jaldi karo aur Quality nahi mili to chalega. Kuch faraq nahi padta"... is our general way of life. Look at the CWG games daily incidents and it gives you the whole picture.

Yes, indeed and the reasons are not far to find. Main reason is "ourselves". We the consumers who do not even bother to ask a question, check the packaging, expiry date or even a bill for the transaction. Then comes the government whose lack of initiative in enforcing quality fills the coffers of the ministers. Last but not the least is our education system where asking questions is frowned upon and mindless memorisation is the norm of the day. This leads to a culture of robotic existence with hardly any investment or devotion to R&D.

Yes, Quality is a myth in India, 'coz it can be seen very clearly the manufacturers are not at all making goods to compete global standards. Moreover if any quality product is been made, it just exported out of the country like flour n all that related stuff.

They never let in the quality products in the Indian market, n that's how the consumer in India faces the problem like food adulteration and very poor quality products from other manufacturers.

Yes...Quality is still a myth in india in general perspective not because we cant produce quality products but because we lack in Discipline & efficiency.

There is a lot to be done in this area to achieve but mainly is the awareness & strict norms.

The best example is CWG if we consider it a "product"....we have spent a fortune over it & now we may have to be ashamed of it.

Yes Meena, we are not quality conscious people at all. We struggle so hard to make ends meet that quality is a luxury most people can't afford.

Of course, it is a myth in India still. But there are Organisations who have raised their standards in last couple of decades. It is to be understood that without quality no Organisation can stand tall for years. Awareness is required among the consumers to raise their standards. Unless and until consumer demands quality, nobody will come forward to offer. Today it is buyers market, not seller's.

MS Shivangi, your overlooking something, talented Indians are able to demonstrate their talent on technology which is "western" under western "Leadership", Top Management of IBM Microsoft are all AMERICAN Full STOPS

How does American standard augment our standard, I have worked with Americans, we are few Millennium behind, somewhere in Stone Age!!

Americans have trained Monkey to fly rocket (Apollo Mission), they can train few of us; I am American trained, Stone Age people are Homo sapiens!!

Thank you Meena for the Debate.

To have global enterprise like Microsoft, IBM, we need vision true, the money is there true, we need to have people to back it up, to execute, to appreciate, to nurture, to grow to reach out, to make it happen, provide the space. It’s been baniya’s who are dominant in the Indian Business theatre, which runs on contacts mama, kaka, phupha, sala, Politian, goons, prostitutes, rakhel etc. local business men in US, UK to use all of these combinations, nothing good or bad, it’s a game of making money. Well if you want to be a global player, this combination does not work very well.

English is neither our language nor the technology that Microsoft and IBM or others are producing, when we are not the creator of this technology nor the language is ours, how can we ever create a better global organization? We can’t it’s not our natural frequency no matter what attitude I put it’s unique to me. Manufacturing process and technique can be copied not personalities.

Mumbai dhaba wala are Six sigma in delivery timing not in the quality or standard of food. An American would never swallow one gulp of what comes in the dhabawala lunch box.

"Quality stems from language", attitude is an act to achieve target. To learn understand and master anything is this world (Universe) you have to be passionate, passion knows no boundary, Passion is a human attribute, less understood in India. Such people are very obsessed with what they do. Providing proper training mentoring and guidance, we can also have global organization from India.

The world never lacked resource, be it the Taj, Great Wall of China, Red Fort in Delhi, Pyramids in Egypt, Worli Bandra sea link in Mumbai. Listening and communication are the key tools, Channakeya neeti, is for running  a state, not an organization, however today  in a very connected world this is like  fooling around where people can very easily come to know what’s what.

Yes
 Mr.Badri, you are absolutely correct and moreover this is the reality
in our buying behavior.
 Friends I would like to share my experience with you. For any new
projects, whether related to government or private, quality products
will be specified in the project specifications either by the govt.dept
or by the project consultants in case of private projects.Once the
project is completed and that will be handed over to the respective
users/promoters/dept. After some years the projects may need some
maintenance work and for which the cheap quality products are used, of
course the products life may last up to, say one or two years.   

Why this is happening... the reasons are that at the time of project
planning finance is arranged from the financial institutions in the case
 of private projects and the govt arranging finance in case of its
projects. Kindly note that since there is finance available during
project promotion and hence they are using initially quality products.
When it comes to meet the later stage maintenance work they opt for
lesser quality products due to the financial constraints.[ project cost
is planned and approved ]

Further, sometimes in case of budgeted new projects they prefer products
 with normal quality due to cost conscious.

In view of the above, we have quality products as well as less quality
products and depending upon the necessity/requirements basis products
are selected.   

I could not understand why America is ........referred here...

Anyhow Happy Debating friends...

The level of Quality for the goods manufactured/services rendered in India follows a continuum that encompasses all the way from low quality to high quality. Price being a major consideration ensures that there are always various market segments that are focused more on getting the goods/services at a lower cost which implies that it is difficult to always get good quality. Additionally, there are other segments which focus and demand high quality.

Thus, quality is perceived and delivered appropriately by the Indian manufacturers/service providers as per the market segment requirement.......

It is interesting - is quality a myth?  Before, I place my views, a word about my background-  I have more than 40 years of experience in various facets of management, out of which 5 years were in Consulting and 3 years in auditing systems and processes of companies as an ISO 9001 QMS Auditor.

From my experience as a Consultant as well as an auditor, I found Indian entrepreneurs are neither quality conscious nor customer focussed.

I stopped my ISO Consultancy since I found either the top management was not interested in improving quality of their products and services, or the middle management scuttled all initiatives.

This is also the trend even with those companies which are ISO 9001 QMS Certified.

No doubt, despite all the brouhaha about India making strident progress in all spheres, it's industry is still least quality conscious.  My feeling gets strengthened because  for one Infosys, we have hundreds of thousands of Satyams.

I could not decide to take which side unless I saw the argument that our attitude towards quality is the reason that we do not have Microsoft and alikes in India.....that is the clear result of our chalta hai attitude.

Here the question is quality. All industries in India are having talented, skilled, and well trained engineers or manpower only. In the absence of technical knowledge or know-how they can not start manufacturing. But whether they are giving products with the required quality which is material here.

Some reasons I have indicated below, apart from this another cause is the buying behavior in India. Our market is price oriented, every one wants or seek lowest prices for the products they need including the government purchase procedures through tenders. HENCE TO SUITE THE PRICE, PRODUCTS ARE MANUFACTURED AND SUPPLIED.

For example, the seller says a price of Rs. 2000 for a particular or any product that he deals to his customers. Now do you think the customers will make the payment Rs.2000 and buy the product?... See, first the customer will look at the product from all angle and after a pause, he will slowly ask whether it is a original or duplicate....  sometimes in case the seller is in a good mood he will not react in a bad/rough manner.... after all the seller wants business....

Then the buyer will start bargaining... he may ask for Rs.1500 or something less than Rs.2000.... In case the price suits to the seller he may sell at the price demanded by the buyer....      

Friends, everybody knows about the DGS&D RATE CONTRACT WITH THE MANUFACTURERS.

The name quality is still far away in India at least by 10 yrs.

People scoff on mention of quality . They are happy if the work is over and the job product stands the maintainence time. after that its not any bodys problem.

Even insistence will not work.or rather is diff to work.

There needs to be major brian washing for India to be proud of quality. 

If that succeds India will be on the top of the world

Natteraja I agree on your point of view also.

The fact that India has till now not been able to produce a puerly indegenous gas turbine even though gas turbines were developed more than 50 years ago in Europe clearly demonstrates the low quality standard of metallurgy in India. The fact that India has to depend on foreign manufacturers for industrial steam turbines, gas turbines, hydraulic governing systems,etc ectc demonstrates that inspite of the government claiming heavy investments in the R&D sector, all this is futile because of the low industrial standards in India. Someone mentioned that Math standard in India was the highest in the world. I dont know what he was comparing with. Considering the fact that pure science & mathematics courses in India are given far less priority & infrastructure, it is no wonder that we are not able to make innovations.

I could not accept with your views fully, however I could understand the concern on the quality. The main reason is the difference in manufacturing process.

In case of MNCs, the entire production process has been controlled by fully automated with micro-processor basis, and so they are able to attain the quality standards and high precision as per the relevant specifications. Where as in India except a few, the manufacturing process is manual or semi-automated and hence we are not able to get the desired quality standards. Another main reason is that our work force who may object the introduction of automation system in our factories on the ground of fearing they will loose their jobs. In India there are companies producing quality products.

Thanks for the referral Ms. Meena.

yes, myth when its concerned with common people and products for mass consumption we usually...more so often we have chalta hai atittude...

I agree with you. Somehow we as Indians on the whole lack the discipline and the "Killer Instinct" required to enforce strict quality control needed to compete with international brands. The general attitude of "Chalta Hai" seems to be inbuilt in us.

No doubt there are brand leaders who are achieving this but they are too few by far for India as a whole to be recognised as a quality conscious country. 

the quality of education is deteriorating at an alarming pace......... with the addition of large no: of seats in NITs & IITs at the graduate level, without looking into the necessary infrastructure, there is an acute shortage of competent faculty as well as a dearth in the no: of job opportunities.........

Quality is being compromised everywhere from education to jobs, from day to day products to highly important life supporting products like medicines. It is deteriorating day by day. As a student I can remember 3-5 years back things I used to trust closing my eyes, now it is not the same. Specially while employing the candidates, more attention is paid on the QUANTITY paid to get that job den the quality (ability, honesty, interest). In jobs where real interest and sincerity is required lazy and irresponsible people are hired. Is this not a compromise on the quality?????

Two challenges that are relevant in the Indian scenario are  large workforce which is  unskilled and uneducated. Lack of  focus on R&D and BPR.  Today majority of manufacturing firms though are aware of the need to focus on these two challenges, they are unable to invest enough to improve on them, unfortunately in our market context even the consumer expectations are so rationalised on quality grounds that our markets are flooded with sub standard quality products - especially the rural markets where consumers too are not literate enough. So YES as of now quality is a myth in India

i agree with Meena with discretion that has bee created by big players.They have created a force of retailers.