Jet trails

The airlines troubles reveal the direction in which Indias corporates must go

The travails of Jet Airways once the smiling face of liberalising India,but now looking more like a brand worn down by rashness and poor corporate planning have been exhaustively dissected in a series of articles in this newspaper that make for depressing reading. The story laid bare is one of hubris: of overexpansion on unearned money,of a bet that numbers would keep on going up; a bet lost because of the global recession,yes,but one that would always have been lost at some point in the near term. But the narrative goes beyond one particular company,even beyond one particular sector.

The first take-away thought is about the social implications of the bad business models of Jet and its competitors. The airline industry,like other infrastructure industries,is perhaps more prone to boom-and-bust cycles; anything that requires massive investment that cant be staggered tends to be. But in other such sectors like rail in the 19th century,fibre-optics and telecom in the 20th overexpansion and overcapacity have been good for the economy once all is said is done. That may not hold for airlines; planes wear out a lot faster than railway lines.

The second thought goes to the heart of post-reform Indian capitalism itself. Jets troubles and,more,the very public battering its brand has taken are a sign of a coming shake-up. Jet was set up shortly after liberalisation in the early 90s; it is representative of an entire breed of companies that benefited from not showing a sarkari,pre-reforms face to their customers,companies that achieved popularity as India finally got to follow through on its long-suppressed impatience with public-sector shoddiness. But capitalist success relies on a lot more than looking better than the public sector. That is what some of the first-wave post-reform companies are

going to have to come to terms with. Jet had better customer service than Indian Airlines; but it didnt open out new routes or a different business model. It didnt reform on every dimension. Second-wave companies will have to do that too,

to compete. If Jet restructures fundamentally and its belated acceptance that it over-invested is a start it could reinvigorate its brand,and become one of the second-wave Indian companies,companies that are capable of fundamental transformations,and world-class competition.