City will remain a preferred investment destination: Pune Inc

Monday 17 February 2010
By Dileep Athavale

Pune: Saturday’s bomb blast at German Bakery is unlikely to shake the confidence investors have in the city, which will continue to be a preferred business destination, industry leaders told TOI on Sunday.

Pramod Chaudhari, chairman of Praj Industries, said the city has its own strengths in terms of availability of skilled labour and a very good social infrastructure. He said there may not be any impact on the business atmosphere except perhaps some countries issuing advisories to their citizens about being cautious when visiting here. “Such events are becoming a sad part of life and we better change our mindset to co-operate fully with security procedures put in place by government agencies, hotels or business establishments,” he said.

A positive fallout of the unfortunate event would be that all organisations will take a hard look at their security systems, Chaudhari said. Most corporates have already spruced up their access procedures and surveillance systems, but they may now want to orient their staff to respond appropriately to such disasters, he added.

Ganesh Natarajan, deputy chairman and managing director of Zensar Technologies, felt that the incident has more national ramifications than local and has to be tackled in that manner. Speaking to TOI, he said, “We just completed our annual customer meet with over 70 international chief executive officers and chief information officers on Saturday and I can vouch for the fact that while they share our sense of sadness and helplessness at the continuing attacks on our country, nobody believes Pune will face any negative perception on this account. This is a national, not a local issue.”

Mukesh Malhotra, president of the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (MCCIA), said the city now starkly faces the terror menace which, so far, had been lurking in the wings. He said the incident was a random attack on the country’s security and integrity and would not impact the investment climate in Pune.

“The city has many other strengths and will continue to be a preferred location for investors,” Malhotra stressed. The time has come for each of us to be alert and sensitive to such possibilities and abide by the procedures laid down by the law and order machinery, he said, adding that the Chamber would take steps to sensitise its members to a greater extent.

Naushad Forbes, Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) Western India chairman and director of citybased Forbes Marshall Group, said terrorist attacks are always meant to disrupt life in the victims’ location. “If we panic, we could be helping them win in their game. The attack may have some impact on investor sensibilities about India as a country, but may not specifically impact Pune as an investment destination,” he added.