All-weather vehicle

First of all,dont panic,people: the Jeep is not dead. Nor,for that matter,are the two other iconic,if endangered brandnames Chrysler and Dodge. Yes,its true that Chrysler LLC,one of Detroits Big Three automakers,filed for bankruptcy on Thursday. And yes,given the size and stature of this particular bankruptcy,even the USs bankruptcy protections will be sorely tested never before has a goat this big passed through the digestive tract of that python. But if all goes well,the best parts of Chrysler the brand names,and the goodwill will be back up and running soon; and the difficult,indebted parts will go through the usual legal processes independently.

There are other fascinating features to the endgame for Chrysler. Heres one: the buyer for the good Chrysler may well be the companys employees themselves. Thats quite an achievement for a capitalist society: a peaceful,legal takeover of a company by its workers. Heres another: Chrysler was forced into bankruptcy by the obduracy of a few big funds that owned some of the companys debt and didnt want to mark the value of that debt down as much as the government wanted them to. So these individuals shockingly unpopular that they are in the current climate still manage to face down the might of the entire American political class. Its difficult to imagine that much confidence in an Indian corporate; perhaps we just dont have the institutional climate that could engender that confidence. And finally: that Chrysler was allowed to go bust at all. Remember that this is the company that was almost talismanic in its ability to recover from trauma,made its bankruptcy-avoiding CEO Lee Iacocca into a hero,put his smiling-face autobiography on every Indian pavement.

When will India have such maturity in the face of disaster? The Satyam bailout was a great start; it was done smoothly,and behind the scenes. But the Chrysler mess shows India how far it still has to go in creating the institutions to deal with company emergencies. Bankruptcy regulation genuine bankruptcy law,which protects stakeholders as well as incentivising management correctly is something that policy-makers need to start thinking about seriously as we head into a tough,tough fiscal year for our companies.