Liberalise power sector fully, says GE chief

Fakir Chand in Bangalore

The third weekend of September turned out to be an exciting ball game for Bangalore's whiz kids. An otherwise staid Sunday ended on an stimulating note due to the presence of the world's most admired and proclaimed CEO -- John F Welch Jr, or simply 'Jack', chairman of General Electric.

Welch was on a day's visit to Bangalore to grace the opening ceremony of the $40-million GE Technology Centre named after him, and located at the Export Promotion Industrial Park.

The GE chairman stepped out of his private jet around noon to a rousing welcome by the techies of Bangalore with a red carpet rolled out by his staff. Not to be left behind, the Karnataka government, led by its IT-savvy chief minister S M Krishna, also pitched in to accord a royal welcome to Welch.

The moment of reckoning and glory thereafter came when Welch took centrestage to speak out his mind on the hullabaloo being made about the 'old economy' versus the 'new economy', and the digital divide brought about the world over by the so-called economies.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the John F Welch
Technology Centre, Welch said that all the talk about 'new economy' was pure bunkum! He pooh-poohed the idea and said that there was no such thing as 'old economy' or new economy'. "It is all the same. What people were doing, say, about 100 years ago, like buying and selling, the same thing is being done about even now."

The only difference is that in the new millennium the same old buying and selling was done with the help of an enabling technology that facilitated a digital platform to do business or undertake transactions, he said.

"That's all! Maybe, the term 'digital economy' would be more appropriate. Mind you, both the economies are inter-dependent."

At the media conference later, he said that he was a blend of both economies. "While the old economy needed some power, the new economy needs more power. India is not alone. The world has figured out that there is something like a new economy. It thinks this has dropped from the heavens. And that it doesn't require power. This is just nonsense!"

The new economy requires more power than the old economy did. "Without the power, how can you and I get connected. How can the servers, the PCs, and a host of new gadgets operate round the clock without energy? The world over, there is an acute power shortage. In the US alone, there have been a number of blackouts," he said.

To overcome this energy crisis, which is critical for the digital world, more and more countries are buying turbines, many from GE. When we talk of networking the world, we need a lot of power. And if we don't have power, how can we network? Somehow, the world has missed this," he stated.

Cautioning the Indian government on the slow progress being made on the power front, Jack called for total privatisation of the power sector. "Let free enterprise step in to throw up power plants across the country. Well, I am constrained to talk on the subject lest some one mistake me to be peddling turbines as GE is in the business of selling power equipment."

"I wish Bill Gates (of Microsoft) talks about this global problem. It doesn't behove me to comment further as I could be accused of doing business. But let me assure you that till 2004, I am sold out. My orders are full," he said.

Sounding a warning note to the Indian authorities, Jack said there was an urgent need to tackle the power problem across the country so that India could develop its people and nourish its vast intellectual capital. "I hope the people will not be short-changed for want of power. I wish Gates had said that," said Welch.

He lamented that no was talking about the power, but only about the new economy. "Do you know what the dot-com start-ups do. They just digitise the old economy. And digitising is the easiest part of the whole equation. But digitising an existing business is a back office work. Anyhow, one must admit that it is the new or the converging digital technology that is blending both the economies."

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