It’s a story that must be told again and again. For a nation that puts “artha” and “kama” along with “dharma” and “moksha” as the four primary objectives of human life, it’s both startling and eye-opener.
The story goes thus: Jawaharlal Nehru was having lunch with JRD Tata. The then Prime Minister, being an unswerving socialist that he was, took the occasion to hit out at India’s leading industrialist for being obsessed with making money. Tata reminded him that the business was expected to make money. To this Nehru’s response was astounding. “Jeh, profit is a dirty word. Let’s not spoil our lunch talking about it!”
Was it the colonial hangover, or the result of 200 years of British servitude that made Indians apologetic about money? Maybe. Maybe not. But Donald R. Davis, Jr, an associate professor of Sanskrit and Indian religions at the University of Texas in Austin, who recently came out with an authoritative book, The Dharma of Business, is confident enough to call this mindset “an aberration in India’s long economic history”.
Davis reminds that the word labh (profit) is mentioned repeatedly—and approvingly— in the Dharmashastras. Interestingly, another term that finds mention frequently—and condemned universally—is lobh (greed). Dharma texts make a clear-cut demarcation and distinction between two. “The purpose of business is not only to make a profit, but also to do it righteously,” he says.
History suggests that from the days of the Harrapans, though it’s flippantly to confine the Indus-Saraswati civilisation to Harappa, many Indians were successfully trading in Mesopotamia. And it continued till the medieval times when after a series of colossal defeats, first at the hands of the Arabs and the Turks and later the Europeans led by the English, we became insular, inward-looking and bereft of any entrepreneurial edge. The adventurist in us was gone. The entrepreneur in us too vanished soon.
It’s this tradition that needs to be revived. The idea that money is good, profit (labh) is better, and luxury is great. As Ritu Beri, founder of The Luxury League, which aims to brand Indian luxury globally, says: “Luxury is not new to India. In fact, I believe India epitomises luxury… Jewellery, yoga, dance forms, textile and embroideries, Ayurveda and art are the true luxury from India.”
And it’s the best time to realise this. For, the big global luxury brands have either already woken up or are waking up to the emerging India. And we must not miss the bus, for this industry—set to grow in the country to $30 billion from $23.8 billion by the year-end—will not just help enhance the Image of India globally, but also conveys the latter’s chic, modern side. To add to it, it makes a great economic sense. According to Euromonitor International, after all, the luxury sector is growing at the rate of 40% per annum, outpacing the rest of the segments.
So, don’t think luxury is just the opposite of poverty. It is not. It is the opposite of vulgarity, as Coco Chanel famously said.