Press & News

Never Mind the Width Feel the Quality

July 1996, Business Eye, UK

Quality Guru Dr Madhav Mehra, president of India's Institute of Directors, and chairman-elect of the World Quality Council, says India is undergoing a revolution in its quality standards, with Britain in a strong position to help

In 1990 just one Indian company had won the universally recognised ISO 9000 quality management standards. By the end of last year 1,200 companies were ISO 9000 accredited, and by the end of this year around 3,000 will have qualified for the standard. It is anticipated that there will be around 15,000 Indian ISO 9000 rated organisations by the new millennium.

This revolution in standards is in some part down to the work of Dr Madhav Mehra, a former Indian government official, who over the past three decades has been involved with quality activities and institutions, and is himself recognised as a pioneer in quality management.

Dr Mehra, who was born in India, and now has homes in both India and the UK, first came to Britain in 1960's, where he studied for a PhD in Management by Objectives at the University of London. He went on to become director in the Ministry of Indian Railways, and taught both quantitive and behavioural management at schools in both India and internationally.

In 1974 he was back in London where he founded Quality Management International, the world's first quality consultancy on Total Quality Management and ISO 9000. Now, after more than 20 years of commitment to quality issues, Dr Mehra sees himself as chairman-elect of the new World Quality Council, which was officially formed at the 50th Annual Quality Congress of the Americann Society for Quality Control held in Chicago in May. This puts him at the pinnacle of his career, and allows him a strong position to take an overview of global developments in quality management. Not surprisingly Dr Mehra feels a particular affinity for India, and he is convinced that the UK is perfectly placed to assist its traditional partner in achieving higher standards. As organized of the annual World Congress on Total Quality held since 1990 in New Delhi, it is also in his interests to promote close links between our two countries. The 7th annual congress, jointly organized by the Worldwide Quality Management Network and the Institute of Directors, is slated for February 1997, and Dr Mehra is confident it will attract 4000 delegates from more than 40 countries – including a strong British contingent. The theme of the conference is “Transforming the Role of Quality in a Turbulent World”, and will be addressed by several world leaders in the field. Says Dr Mehra: India is an appropriate place to hold Asia’s biggest quality event, and it is equally appropriate that a UK based organization be involved in running the event. Britain is recognized as being at the leading edge of quality management development. We have been involved in this area from the very beginning and our reputation is second to none. For its part, India is still at an early stage in recognizing quality standards. India can benefit from our expertise. South Asia is already one of the fastest growing economic regions and for India to take its rightful place among the world’s leading economic powerhouses, it must learn from sophisticated and highly-developed systems pioneered in countries such as the UK. It is no accident that the dramatic rise in ISO 9000 accreditation in India parallels both the introduction of economic reforms and the annual World Congress on Total Quality. Dr Mehra believes that Britain’s natural affinity with India will also helps the UK in ‘accreditation race’ with organizations from different countries. These accreditation organizations are vying with each other for business in lucrative growth markets such as India. Dr Mehra cites factors such as a common language, strong historic ties, mutual respect for the law of contract and the democratic nature of both countries as advantages the UK holds over some of its competitors. And what of his vision for India’s future: ‘India will be part of the economic powerhouse of the world that by the year 2010 will be Asia. India needs helps in making sure that it performs to its potential and we in Britain can help in that process.’