​Raghuram Rajan hates India’s ‘jugaad’ mentality and wants the country to grow out of it

India is a land of jugaad or quick fixes. And that’s what the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor hates most about the country. In a recent discussion on the key to sustainable growth , Raghuram Rajan has expressed his opinion.

"Jugaad, or working around difficulties by hook or by crook, is a thoroughly Indian way of coping, but it is predicated on a difficult or impossible business environment. And it encourages an attitude of shortcuts and evasions, none of which help the quality of final products or sustainable economic growth," Rajan said while delivering the fourth CK Prahalad memorial lecture.

"We must have the discipline to stick to the strategy of building necessary institutions and creating a new path of sustainable growth where jugaad is no longer needed," he said.

Emphasising on the need to salute businesses for operating in tough environment, he said "we need to change the system for the better, and while doing so, the business community will have to cooperate," Rajan added.

Rajan cited the growth of the information technology sector, saying it grew largely on its own and the government only played an enabling role through investments in technical education and the working of state-owned undertakings like Bharat Electronics.
"We need the understanding and cooperation of the business community, not impatience and pressure for quick impossible fixes. Only then, I believe would we realise the true potential as a nation," he said.

Referring to the late marketing guru Prahalad Kakar’s seminal work around letting businesses find their core competencies, Rajan posed a question on whether nations need to discover their strengths, but seem to advocate against any such moves for fear of vested interests dictating policies.