News

If the group that masterminded the attack on Mumbai last week thought it was going to frighten away international business, they should listen to Joe Repovs.

Mr. Repovs is the founder of a Toronto roll-forming company, Samco Machinery Ltd. He and his executives travel often to India, helping Tata Motors produce the chassis for its much-anticipated, low-cost mini-car, the Nano. He has been several times to Mumbai and has even lunched at the famous Taj Mahal Palace & Tower Hotel, raided and seized by the terror squad that rampaged through Mumbai.

So is the attack making him hesitate to do more business in India? Not for a second. Hearing about the attacks, he said “I was absolutely stunned and horrified. I was sad and angry. It's a terrible, terrible, terrible thing.”

But “we're not stopping. We're not deterred. I believe in the long-term future of India and our place there.” The company, he said, is moving forward with a new plant in India and it has no intention of quitting.

Other Canadian businesses have similar things to say. Peter Sutherland, a former Canadian ambassador to India, advises clients on doing business there for the Toronto law firm Aird & Berlis. He says that none of them are telling him they're going to pull back from India because of what happened in Mumbai. “Most of them have been doing business in India for a while and they know it's not always smooth sailing. They're not going to be deterred by something like this. A good prospect is worth pursuing.”

India, from Canada's point of view, is much more than a good prospect. It's a golden opportunity. With its rising middle class, its bold, outward-looking companies, and its rich mining and commodity prospects, it is a place Canadian companies with global ambitions simply have to be. To walk away now would be to satisfy the fondest hopes of the Mumbai terrorists, who struck at its financial heart – and the two luxury hotels where foreign business people stay – with the obvious design of shattering international confidence.

One of the biggest Canadian companies in India, Sun Life Financial, says it has no thought of pulling back. Sun Life has been thriving in India for nearly a decade. Its Indian subsidiary, Birla Sun Life Financial Services, has 130,000 agents around the country. To the company's obvious relief, none of its Indian staff were hurt in the attack.

Spokesman Michel Leduc says that considering India's young, growing population and its “tremendous” growth rate, “you've got demand that is going to keep on growing. We remain confident in India as a place to do business.”

That must be music to Indian ears. Even before the Mumbai terror, the Indian economy was slowing as the effects of the global economic slowdown sank in. Growth decelerated to 7.6 per cent in the third quarter, the slowest in four years. The main index of Indian stocks, the Sensex, has lost more than half its value this year as foreign investors bailed out.

Mumbai, the financial and commercial capital, is especially vulnerable. Like any big, cosmopolitan world city, it is a tempting target for terrorists. Forty per cent of India's foreign trade moves through Mumbai, which accounts for a quarter of the country's industrial output. There were major attacks on the city in 1993 and 2006.

But Mumbai is also resilient, and in recent years it has been the symbol of the exuberant optimism that has infected India as it grows in wealth and confidence. Indians are determined not to let the Mumbai attack quench that spirit.

Joe Repovs watched on television the other day as Ratan Tata, the father of the Nano and one of India's leading business tycoons, talked about the attack. Mr. Tata's great-grandfather, Jamsetji Tata, commissioned the building of the Taj, a grand edifice on Mumbai's waterfront. The present Mr. Tata's company still owns the hotel and has vowed to rebuild.

“We cannot replace the lives that have been lost and we will never forget the terrifying events of last night, but we must stand together, shoulder to shoulder, as citizens of India, and rebuild what has been destroyed,” he said. “We must show that we cannot be disabled or destroyed, but that such [a] heinous act will only make us stronger.”

“He has tremendous resolve that they will not be defeated,” Mr. Repovs said. “I think we can all take something from that.”