Dt: 30/11/20
My and DOT’s Regard For and Trust in
Dr F. C. Kohli and Tatas
Dr T H Chowdary*
The year was 1970. I was Dy General Manager of Bombay Telephones . In those times we were producing the Bombay Telephone Directory once every six months .
2. More than one lakh copies of the Directory were being printed. While every subscriber got it free, trade and businesses used to buy several copies. There used to be mistakes, both in spelling as well as in description of the subscriber. If we corrected it in one issue there would be others in the next issue. Also during the time the directory was being printed, there used to be new connections which could not be entered and shifts of telephones from one area to another but the changed numbers could not be incorporated. So, while incurring lot of expenditure we used to get lots of complaints .
3. For the first time the Government took a loan from the World Bank in 1970 for expansion of the telecom system. A delegation of the World Bank was thus with the Bombay Telephones. There was discussion about the telephone directories . We said that we would like to computerize the compilation and printing and production of the telephone directory. The World Bank people said that we would not be able to do it. Only two countries so far attempted and succeeded ; these were USA and Japan. I was in charge of the compilation and production of telephone directory. In some social meeting, I mentioned this matter to Sri F C Kohli and also inquired whether TCS
could underbake this job . and that the World Bank officials said that India would not be able to do it . Sri Kohli said he would accept the challenge . In the next meeting with the officials of the World Bank, I requested Sri Kohli to be present when the discussion would be about the computerization of Telephone Directory . The World Bank officer asked Sri Kohli to take a bet and Kohli accepted it.
4. We gave the order to TCS. We did not invite tenders, did not write any specification because we did not know how to specify. We already had a contract with the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan whose printing department was printing the directories. That had to be terminated. I convinced the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan that the computerized production of Telephone Directory would be the beginning of computerization of many operations int the DOT and would be taking India into the great league of countries using computers for several tasks . The Bhavan true to its patriotism, expressed its willingness for the termination of the contract, although it meant loss of business for them .
5. My agreement with Sri F C Kohli was that the TCS should charge only actual cost and not take any profit . It agreed. The Tatas had to change the traditional printing press and buy a new system which would accept the computer set directory in software and bring out the printed version according to our standards of entries and layout including punctuation, hyphenation etc.
6. When this matter came to the notice of the P&T Directorate, Delhi the Member Finance of the P&T Board came down to Bombay and asked us how we dared to award work for lakhs of rupees without specification and without tenders and a contract. I explained that we are ignorant about writing the specification and we are certain that the House of Tatas would keep up their word that they would charge us nothing but actual costs they incur. We have full trust in the integrity of the Tata companies and especially in one that is headed by Sri F C Kohli. To our surprise, the Member Finance of the P&T Board agreed and we went ahead.
7. In the first 50,000 copies came out, Sri JRD Tata ordered them to be pulped as the quality of paper and print visibility was not up to his high (Tata) standard. Improved ones were delivered within two days . The Directory was current as of five days before its release to the public.
8. For the first time in the country and the third in the world the Telephone Directory was produced in India in Bombay by the TCS in 1971. The department was so happy that the TCS undertook this job in the spirit “India Can Do” . The TCS was then awarded contracts for telephone billing. and other operations. Thus the first big order and a pioneering one that TCS got was from the Bombay Telephones. It was entirely due to the faith of the management of Bombay Telephones represented by me in the competence and integrity of a Tata company headed by F.C. Kohli that TCS broke into big I.T business in the P&T/ DOT. I am proud and happy that the decision I had taken based entirely upon my faith in F.C. Kohli and the Tatas proved so beneficial to India . Dr F C Kohli always believed and used to assert “India can do” (839 words)
END