Increasingly all across India, companies that do business are gradually lowering their expectations of the government and the politicians that run it.  They are operating their own power generation units, arranging their own water supply, building their own hotels and even running their own transport networks to supplement the inadequate public systems.  Bangalore’s outsourcing companies have become conscious of terrorist attacks and have metal detectors, entry point checks, and boundary patrolling and even electric fences in place.

After Mumbai, large businesses all over India will soon have to put their own commando networks in place too.  Even if they do, in cities like Bangalore private security agencies can only use dated single or double barrel guns, nothing more sophisticated is permitted under current government regulations.  Companies will be forced to add terrorism as high risk and add it to their cost of doing business. Foreign companies will be even more wary.  If a global CEO were to visit the country, where would he stay and would the local administration advise him to make his own security arrangements? If General Electric were to strike a business deal in India, would they need to add a large security cost to their projections?

Last Saturday, as Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata stood outside the hotel built by his great-grandfather watching the Taj Mahal Hotel being destroyed in last week’s full-fledged battle between security forces and terrorists, he was his usual civil self, restrained in his criticism of politicians and the administration.

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