Business in India: Working With Politicians

When your company’s interests align with the interests of large groups of people that fall under a politician’s constituency, working with Ministers and Politicians (M&Ps) can help you navigate any laws or provisions that are standing in your way.

Let’s use the example of a power generating facility that uses captive coal to supply power to consumers at a competitive rate. Now let’s imagine that the statutory authorities impose a ceiling on annual coal production. Due to this restriction in annual coal production, the company’s power generation will get restricted at peak season. As a result, consumers no longer have access to low rate power, and the company also suffers a loss of revenue. The consumers would end up having to opt for more costly options in peak season. The company can consider approaching the Government to relax the ceilings on annual coal mining. In this case, relaxing the ceilings would involve multiple government institutes. However, if approval was granted, it would be a win-win across all stakeholders - customers, the company, and the Government.

Could your business benefit from the involvement of policy makers? If so, you’ll have to find a way to put it across to the M&Ps that it would be beneficial to the masses to support your company’s views. One way to do this is to focus on how a change in the law would benefit a social cause that they support.

Choosing Your Cause

Start by reframing your business goals as social benefits. You could start by identifying an area of your business that requires intervention from policy makers. Then, find a social angle that is relevant to this specific area of your business. Make this your central cause.

There could be two types of issues that would require intervention from Government officials. One involves long term investment decisions, for instance capital, and the other involves short term queries such as taxation interpretations or clarifications.

Long term issues usually involve gaps in the laws or statutory provisions. Approvals and ratifications will hold these laws in permanence even when the M&P change, as they’d be validated as per delegation. As long-term issues typically would impact investors across the industry, you should approach the issue on relevant public forums that are open and common to those impacted.

Do take note that when a certain business is benefitting from the current legal provisions, one of two things usually happens. You’ll either have a lot of competitors entering the market, or the law will be amended to avoid a monopoly. In either situation, what is your Plan B? Make sure you factor in any future developments that could impact your industry, and be prepared to handle these curveballs.

On the other hand, short term issues could be short term government policies, wrong implementation of government programmes, tax laws, fiscal policies dealing with imports and exports, or adverse judicial pronouncements.

With short term issues, you would have to work quickly, and in collaboration with your local M&Ps and bureaucrats. Sometimes, your local minister or politician may not belong to the ruling party. Especially in these cases, make sure to keep your M&Ps updated about matters pertaining to your dealings with the ruling party.

Aligning Your Cause With Policy Makers

Once you’ve identified the type of cause you’re dealing with, identify the ministries and officials who have the authority to help make the concessions you need. You then have to prove to them that a variety of stakeholders would significantly benefit from their involvement. Keep in mind that your business may have to return the favour by engaging in more CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) projects such as helping small entrepreneurs or the unemployed, or through improved tax compliances.

As you find a social angle to your business goals, make sure you’re framing it in a neutral way that doesn’t create political turmoil or controversy. You should also not try to tailor your cause to a specific politician or party but focus on aligning it to what would benefit the government. While M&Ps will come and go, the turnover shouldn’t negatively impact your business. You should always conduct yourself lawfully and follow due protocol. Under no circumstance should it appear that the M&Ps have been helping your business or doing you favours under the table.

Now that you’ve narrowed down your cause, and chosen the relevant ministries to work with, your next task is to approach the bureaucrats with your cause. How do you successfully work with the big egos that you are likely to encounter, and eventually get them on your side?

Understand the Hierarchy

Start by following the line of authority. What are the touch points? Make a note of the desk manager, the officer in charge, the relevant department you’re dealing with, and the ministry that will be processing your company’s documentation.

With lower level officers, they tend to feel uncomfortable if they see your presence as an indication of their bosses taking a top-down approach. You should make them comfortable by showing them how your case will benefit everyone involved, and that it is indeed a win-win. Ask a beneficiary help resolve any concerns by putting in a recommendation or a request to process your proposal quickly.

You should then analyse the people involved in all of these levels. What are their working styles, skills, knowledge, competencies, attitudes. Are they aggressive? Is there a pattern to how they’ve made decisions in the past? Focus on customising how you’ll push matters forward most efficiently. You can do this by understanding the expectations at each level and matching them with the suitable approach on your end. Do note that while your cause might require fast clearances, this may not always happen, considering the changes in bureaucrats.

Play Your Cards Right

Be your own biggest advocate. It’s up to you to do your research and find overlaps between your business interests and the interests of the M&Ps. Clearly outline a winning proposition that the ministry or bureaucrats cannot say no to.

To do this, you could showcase the impact of your business on all your stakeholders. Your stakeholders include not just your employees, customers, suppliers and lenders, but also the revenue wings of the government, or the various beneficiaries of your CSR activities. The well-being of the latter group usually falls under the purview of the government, and helping them would be in the interest of the M&Ps.

Make a strong case that the success of your business would trickle down to various people and social causes that could include health, education, employment, the empowerment of women, etc. Approach your M&Ps with informed input, but always follow the due protocol.

Win Them Over

Start by closely studying the M&Ps involved in the decision making process. What have they done to make advances in the field? What are their recent successes or achievements? When working with policy makers and Government officials, you need to be able to give specific compliments that show them you’ve noticed their accomplishments. This is one way to win them over without pandering to them in an artificial way.

When you do interact with the M&Ps, you might find that they believe that your proposal would result in your company receiving undue gains. As you’re representing a private sector organisation, you might find that Government officials might be reluctant to get involved when huge financial implications are at stake. To quell their concerns, prepare a Cost-Benefit Analysis across all stakeholders involved, especially the public at large. Show them case studies of similar scenarios in the public or private sectors that can be used as a reference point. Let your research do the talking. Make sure you’re not debating or disrespecting their views even if they sound wrong or illogical to you.

Another way of winning them over is to show them that you can speak their language. Go the extra mile by adding value and giving bureaucrats the information they need to process your documentation with confidence. You could share insights from non-controversial experts in the field that they might not have considered, including in the legal, technical and financial sectors. You could source specialised information by tapping into the resources you may have at your disposal. Perhaps you are a part of a professional community that can provide you with a unique perspective to the topic. Ask that community for their guidance and support. You could also reach out to the relevant industry bodies to verse yourself in the trends and forecasts of that space.

When working with M&Ps, the best approach is to establish that you’re respectful, well-informed, knowledgeable, and credible. Winning them over is a matter of communicating in a way that convinces them that a partnership with you would be beneficial to them.

Get Noticed in Other Public Platforms

Leveraging on public forums is a powerful way to connect your cause to the relevant Government officials. Unlike private dealings, the fact that you’re addressing your cause in view of the public puts just the right amount of pressure on Government officials to sit up and take notice of what you have to say.

Industry forums (IFs) are a great place to start. If a forum doesn’t exist or is passive, take the first step to initiate or activate one. You could organise an event that’s open to all relevant industry players, for example. Use an IF to present your case, but make sure that you’re using forums only to represent your company’s specific interests although the cause you’re championing might benefit many others. You could also engage the support of industry bodies on the suppliers side or the end customer’s side. Their valuable perspective could help showcase the various implications of your cause, and give the M&Ps more reasons to consider your proposal.

If your cause involves injustices to a large group of people, you could also pursue public interest litigation, as long as the proceedings are limited to the interests of the public beneficiaries. When relevant, leverage on the media to cover your cause and its implications to quickly get the issue in the public eye on a larger scale. As the media will push your cause into the public eye, you’ll naturally grasp the attention of bureaucrats and M&Ps and they will be required to address your cause in a timely manner. However, be smart about how you position yourself. You do not want to be antagonising the bureaucrats whom you want to win over, or portraying them in a bad light. Rather, focus on highlighting how your cause would have a positive impact on society.

Potential Pitfalls

One thing to avoid is to make a show of your company’s clout or influencing capacity. Instead, approach every conversation with decision makers with the intention of explaining things to them in a logical way. You could set up informal chats before papers are formally filed in order to lay the groundwork for a smoother process overall.

Be cautious when working with people who plan to retire in the near future. They tend to behave aggressively, or on the contrary, may drag out the decision making process. That said, you should make an effort to keep on good terms with people looking to retire. Given their extensive knowledge and experience, these individuals would make invaluable resources to your business post retirement.

1. Consider Your Impact

Think about how your cause fits into the larger political, business, or economic environment. Be as impartial and objective as possible. Make sure that you’re looking at all possible stakeholders and avenues that can contribute to your cause

2. Assess Strengths and Weaknesses

Find ways in which your strengths are complementing the weaknesses or shortcomings of the Government officials and vice versa. The more they overlap, the easier it will be to settle on a mutually beneficial collaboration.

3. Establish Your Company’s Credibility

Policy makers want to make sure that they’re associating with businesses that are honest and in good standing. Make sure that you’re reviewing your company’s public presence. Be proactive about withdrawing false statements, correcting errors or omissions you’ve made. This way, you don’t risk people misrepresenting your company in any way.

Disclaimer: The contents of this article are the personal views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of entities with whom the author is or has been associated. Views may not be complete or appropriate in all circumstances and the author does not assure the outcome by practicing the recommendations mentioned in this article. Readers are advised to take their independent and informed decision in all situations.