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Lungi & Computer. The younger Indians are underpinning their companies with Western techniques as well as partners. Indian family companies always believed in nepotism, found jobs for every relative around. Today's executives bypass their in-laws for professional managers. Keshub Mahindra is proud of the fact that only five of 12,000 employees are related to him; Mahindra has linked his plants with Telex communications, keeps track of production with PERT (for performance evaluation and review technique), which was originally devised in the U.S. to coordinate production of the Polaris weapons system. Charat Ram took the lead in founding the All-India Management Association to help develop new talent. Says he: "There is a vast shortage of good management talent in India."
The young generation is often a curious blend of old and new. M. V. Arunachalam, 38, who helps direct twelve family companies in southern India, prefers to wear the sheetlike Indian lungi and practices yoga every morning, but he also insisted on automatic elevators in the firm's new nine-story building, and is negotiating with IBM for a computer to handle payrolls and inventory. The Mafatlals, on the other hand, follow the tradition of communal living: the brothers and their families all occupy one five-story, 20-bedroom house. Arvind Mafatlal is a vegetarian, prays an hour every morning, insists on consulting an astrologer before he signs a contract or breaks ground for a new plant. "We make our own business decisions," he explains, "but once we have, we want to invoke the blessing of God."
India's modernized businessmen also believe strongly in charities and community aid. Hari Nanda, along with setting up medical programs for his employees, awards college scholarships to their children. The Mafatlals have set one-quarter of their assets aside as a foundation to help schools and hospitals, and have given $1,500,000 for a science and technology museum in Bombay. Perhaps they are motivated by a British business rule they were mostly too young to really remember but wise enough to apply to their modern India. Says Arvind Mafatlal: "The private sector can only survive if it proves its value to society."