Quality management
worldwide
Total quality
management in India ±
perspective and
analysis
R. Jagadeesh
The author
R. Jagadeesh is an Assistant Professor in the Department
of Mechanical Engineering, S.J. College of Engineering,
Mysore, India.
Keywords
TQM, India, Quality
Abstract
Total quality management (TQM) has spread its wings in
every sphere of the global corporate world and Indian
companies are no exception. In this paper, first the
growth and spread of TQM in India is traced from its
initiation to current status. Further, the paper has tried to
identify the causes for poor quality of products and
service, and the gaps that exist between the expectations
and the outcome after adopting the TQM practices. Later
a critical view of the quality scene in India is presented,
and finally, based on these observations suitable guide-
lines and recommendations are made to bridge this gap.
It is concluded that there is still a long way to go for
Indian companies to receive the stamp of acceptance for
their products at international level.
Electronic access
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is
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The TQM Magazine
Volume 11 . Number 5 . 1999 . pp. 321±327
# MCB University Press . ISSN 0954-478X
321
Introduction
For more than four decades after independence
the companies in India enjoyed a protected
market with virtually no competition, and some
of them even monopolised the market, with
customers having little or no choice. As a result
complacency set in, and no pressure existed for
improvement or change. However, the policy
of globalization and liberalization adopted by
the Indian Government five years ago, has
thrown open new avenues and challenges to
companies in India. The new policy has
resulted in open doors through which global
corporate players have entered the Indian
markets, and are threatening the domestic
manufacturers and suppliers, using quality as a
weapon. This has compelled the managers of
local companies to look for those tools and
techniques, proven and tested, which would
help them to maintain and improve their
strategies and positions in the market. One
such policy or philosophy that has captured the
attention of industry and the business com-
munity is TQM. Particularly, in the recent
years TQM is even regarded as absolutely
essential for growth, stability, and prosperity.
This paper has the main intention of presenting
an overview of TQM's progress in the country,
starting from its initiation to its current status.
Besides, the paper also describes how the
organizational attempts by various agencies
enabled the establishment of a TQM culture.
Further, these attempts are presented in a
chronological order, to appreciate the role
played by various agencies, which resulted in
growth and propagation of TQM in India.
Towards the end, the gaps that still exist and
hence the efforts that need to be channeled are
pointed out, so as to result in appropriate
guidelines about the work to be done.
TQM ± the strategic choice
Total quality management (TQM) has be-
come a part of the corporate management
The author expresses his sincere thanks to
Professor Mark Gershon, Department of
Management Science & Operations Management,
School of Business & Management, Temple
University, Philadelphia, PA 19122-6083, for
reviewing the first draft of this paper and offering
suggestions and comments, which helped the
author to improve the quality of the paper and
bring it to its current form.
 Total quality management in India ± perspective and analysis
R. Jagadeesh
parlance on a global scale. While it was earlier
regarded as ``buzz word'', ``hype'' and ``fad'',
it is now considered a ``must'' for survival and
success. The ever-increasing number of pub-
lications is good evidence of the growing
interest about TQM. Ahire et al. (1995) have
carried out a literature review on TQM, based
on a total of 226 articles published in 44
referenced management journals, spanning a
period from 1970 to 1993. Many success
stories are already well documented in papers,
for example by Longenecker and Scazzera
(1993), and recently by Sterman et al. (1997)
Inspired by these success stories, companies
in India too have embarked on TQM pro-
grammes in a big way. Particularly, the ISO
9000 certification, that is currently a corpo-
rate priority for a good number of companies,
has given a new thrust and foundation for
effectively launching TQM. But more com-
pelling reasons to adopt TQM are: pressure
set in due to decreased profits, inability to
penetrate into new markets, intensifying
competition, and above all quality conscious
customers demanding better and improved
products and services from the companies.
Status of quality ± earlier scene
India has a long tradition of achieving high
standards in several fields. Architectural
wonders like the ``Taj Mahal'' and the
``Konark temple'' are testimony to the rich
cultural heritage that imbibed quality in its
output. Similarly many other products like
jewelry, textiles, artistic and ornamental arti-
cles exhibited high quality and as a result were
the highly traded merchandise with other
countries of the world. For several centuries
Indian trade flourished on these products.
Engineering industries that were set up and
run under the colonial rule quickly estab-
lished a name for quality. As reported by
Piramal (1997) business families like Tata,
Birla, Godrej, and Sarabhai, to name a few,
started and operated several industries which
have now become conglomerates and house-
hold names in India. In fact some of these
names are synonymous with high quality
products and trust worthiness.
However, the post-independent era did not
witness any spectacular improvement regard-
ing the quality of goods and services produced
in the country. According to Agrawal (1993)
due to protected business environment many
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Volume 11 . Number 5 . 1999 . 321±327
positive attributes of the Indian industry have
been lost and weaknesses have surfaced.
These weaknesses based on the study are: lack
of trust and credibility in the working system,
lack of clarity/seriousness for achieving target,
lack of precise observance of rules and norms,
low quality of supplies and components, lack
of consciousness of time as money, viewing
only short term benefits ahead of long term
goals, politicalization of labor unions, lack of
accountability for actions, lack of manage-
ment commitment, lack of national quality
policy, inadequate economic resources, lack
of indigenous technology, inadequate infra-
structure, preferring quantity to quality, lack
of team spirit, cartel formation, and sellers'
market. Besides, lack of consumerism, Gov-
ernment control on everything, bureaucratic
delays, quick profit making attitudes by the
companies, all resulted in quality getting a low
priority and consequently Indian products
were constrained to serve only the domestic
market being not able to compete in the
international markets. Further, the factors
mentioned before, clearly proved to be
obstacles in the path to progress, and India in
spite of possessing good resources and rich
scientific and technical manpower, could not
produce world-class products acceptable in
the international markets.
The TQM movement in India
The TQM initiatives were first set by the
Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) in
the early 1980s, in its pioneering effort in
promoting awareness about quality among
Indian industries. The work done by CII in
this direction is well documented in Deccan
Herald Advertising Feature (1993) and also in
The Standards Engineer (1996). In 1982,
quality circles took birth in India, and some of
the companies to launch quality circles first
were Bharat Electronics Limited, Bangalore,
and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, Tri-
chy. In 1986 the CII then known as CEI
(Confederation of Engineering Industries),
invited Professor Ishikawa to India, to address
industry people about quality. Later in 1987,
a TQM division was set up by the CII. This
division owes its foundation to 21 companies
who agreed to support the cause by pooling
resources and pledging to start the journey to
TQM. Chief executives of these companies
formed the National Committee on Quality,
 Total quality management in India ± perspective and analysis
R. Jagadeesh
and quality month was declared to be an
annual event. CII also launched the first
newsletter on quality.
In 1987 and 1988, the CII invited the Juran
Institute to India to conduct three training
workshops, and then in 1989 a team from
India attended the Deming Seminar in
London. Study teams organized by the CII
were taken to Japan and the USA to study
quality practices. During 1990, the CII
consolidated and focused on training, and in
February 1991, an Indian company with the
assistance of the CII, obtained the first ISO
9000 certification in India. The CII organized
the launch of the National Quality Campaign
led by the Prime Minister of India in May
1992. It is around this time, the process of
globalization and liberalization was started in
the country, bringing a new dimension to the
business and industrial sectors. From then on,
a new line of thinking in terms of quality,
productivity, and competitiveness has begun.
Since 1993, the CII has been organizing
The Quality Summit every year. This pro-
vides an opportunity for all business leaders,
and higher level managers of member and
non-member organizations of the CII to
network, learn, and contribute through ex-
perience sharing, and listening to the experts
who gather there. The National Productivity
Council (NPC) has set up a TQM and
Benchmarking Division in New Delhi, and
offers TQM implementation services, which
include modular training programs and con-
sultancy services.
In 1996, the Government of India an-
nounced the setting up of the Quality Council
of India, (QCI) with the Industry Ministry
bringing in half the seed capital of Rs. 1.5
crores. The rest of the seed capital will be
contributed by the corporate sector. The
setting up of a national agency for quality
certification is part of the World Trade
Organization (WTO) agreements, under
which member countries will not trade in
non-certified products two years down the
line. The corporate sector too was demanding
the setting up of an internationally recognized
quality council as it found the certification
process from foreign agencies too expensive.
Besides, it would save vital foreign exchange
for the country. The QCI will be entrusted
with monitoring and administering of the
National Quality Campaign and will also
oversee the effective functioning of the Na-
tional Information and Enquiry Services.
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Post-liberalization scene ± improvement
in quality
The economic reforms that started in 1992
have ushered in a new era of progress and
prosperity in the country. According to a
report published in Yojana (1997), the real
gross domestic product (GDP) recorded a
growth rate of 6.8 per cent in agriculture and
allied sectors, 7.0 per cent in industry, and 7.4
per cent in services. The Eighth Five Year
Plan (EFYP) (1992-97) which ended with an
average growth rate of 6.5 per cent per
annum, compares well with the target rate of
5.6 per cent for the EFYP, and actual
achievement of 6.00 per cent in the Seventh
Five Year Plan. In fact this is the highest
average growth rate achieved in the planning
period since 1951. The sectoral average
growth rates for the period 1992-97 are:
Agriculture and allied sectors ± 4.0 per cent,
Industry ± 7.8 per cent and, Services ± 9.2 per
cent. Further, exports during 1996-97 regis-
tered a growth rate of 4.1 per cent. Foreign
direct investment amounted to US $2,696
million during 1996-97. These facts clearly
indicate that the economic reforms brought
through globalization and liberalization have
yielded rich dividends, and hold a lot of
promise for the coming years.
While all these developments are seen at the
gross level, companies in India have been
trying individually to improve their product
quality, besides overall performance through
TQM practices.
For example, Gupta and Sagar (1993)
describe a case of total quality control in an
engineering company through the extensive
use of personal computers, and state that the
Indian company was able to overcome many
quality related problems which included: high
rejection levels, slow inspection rates, fre-
quent errors in measurement, inconsistency
in interpreting inspection data, time con-
suming data storage and retrieval, rigid
inspection schedules, not responding to
changing environment, and quality plans not
adjusted to varying batch sizes. The company
improved the problem solving capacity
through quality circles, and quality database
at each stage. Comprehensive information
systems enabled the personnel to obtain
better guidance leading to improved decision
making. Thus the success is attributed to
systematic application of TQM.
 Total quality management in India ± perspective and analysis
R. Jagadeesh
Business Today (1995) in an exclusive
coverage on status of quality of India, presents
a detailed report on companies which are
market leaders and corporate giants. The
cases covered include reports on leading
Indian companies like Mukand, BPL, Arvind,
IFB, ABB, HDFC, Amex, Hidustan Lever,
Ranbaxy, Indal, Gujarat Ambuja, Vysya
Bank, Oberoi Hotels, and Thermax. It is
emphasized that these companies carved a
niche for themselves by focusing on quality in
their planning, operations, and marketing
strategies.
Awareness of quality ± a positive change
Pati and Reis (1996) state that India is
emerging as a leading economy in the new
world economic order. The phenomenal
increase in India's export earnings, which rose
to US$ 26.2 billion in the 1994-95 fiscal year
showed an increase of 18.27 per cent over its
1993-94 export earnings of US$22.17 billion.
This is said to be an indicator of how its
products and services are perceived by its
global customers. It is further stated that the
thrust has been shifted from import substitu-
tion to development of an export-oriented
economy. Other pertinent observations made
are:
. Indian businesses are pursuing paths of
superior quality and high productivity;
. quality conscious consumerism;
. increasing competition;
. industries expanding their domestic share
and venturing into global markets;
. significant rise in the ISO 9000 certified
companies.
The survey conducted by Pati and Reis
(1996) has further revealed many interesting
aspects about quality practices in India. The
survey questionnaire has used a five-point
Likert interval to capture the strength of
perception, where points 1 (very high), 2
(high), 3 (medium), 4 (low), and 5 (very low)
indicate the degree of current practice related
to quality. The critical success factors con-
tributing to quality and overall average scores
based on the survey are given below.
. role of top management and quality
policy (3.43);
. role of quality department/personnel
(3.14);
. training (3.69);
. product/service design (2.91);
. supplier quality management (2.86);
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. process management and operating pro-
cedures (2.74);
. quality data reporting (2.72);
. employee relations (2.92).
It is concluded from the survey that the
manufacturing sector in India is well aware of
importance of quality, and efforts have been
channeled to improve product quality. How-
ever, the service sector mostly Government
owned and operated, lags behind the manu-
facturing sector in all aspects that imply
quality.
TQM ± success stories of Indian
companies
Many Indian companies are beginning to
realize that ``customer focus'' is an absolute
requirement of TQM. Jain (1996), while
writing on TQM in India, states that com-
panies are paying closer attention to
consumer feedback in order to tailor products
to meet customer needs and are using a wide
variety of methods that include benchmarking
with rival products, regular customer meet-
ings, and even engaging market research
companies to collect consumer feedback on
their product range and after sales service.
Two specific cases are worth mentioning.
Escorts Limited, an automobile manufactur-
ing company, based on the feedback from
customers and dealers, changed the delivery
route to ensure safe and quick delivery.
Similarly, J.K. Synthetics, based on feed back
from customer meetings, focused on stan-
dardization of quality parameters, and started
after-sales service. This resulted in the sales
rise from 220 tonnes in first quarter of 1995
to 632 tonnes in the last quarter of the same
year, an impressive growth in the sales by
three times the previous value.
According to a report published in Business
Today (1998), some Indian companies are
being guided by Yoshikazu Tsuda, a counse-
lor at JUSE (Union of Japanese Scientists and
Engineers) in their quest for total quality.
Some of these companies are Sona Steering,
Jai Bharat Maruti, GKN Invel, Asahi Float
Glass, Brakes India, Lucas TVS, India
Pistons, and India Piston Rings. Further, as
stated in The Economic Times (1998), six-
sigma technique, which is considered to be a
classic TQM technique, is being practiced by
several Indian companies notable among
 Total quality management in India ± perspective and analysis
R. Jagadeesh
them being Wipro, a well recognized name in
the field of information technology.
A significant achievement by an Indian
company due to its practicing TQM princi-
ples is reported by Sridharan (1998a). The
Indian company Sundaram Fasteners located
near Chennai, India, has received the Best of
Best Vendors Award consecutively for two
years during 1996 and 1997, for its supply of
metal radiator caps to General Motors, USA.
The award was given to the company for its
consistent zero defects rate, 100 percent
reliability in delivery schedules, and lowest
price. The company is the only supplier to
General Motors, USA from India out of its
3,000 supplier companies scattered all over
the globe.
In an exclusive interview covered by Pre-
mchander (1996), the managing director of
Asea Brown Boveri Ltd (a partly owned
subsidiary of Asea Brown Boveri Limited,
Zurich) one of the very successfully operating
multi-national companies in India, has stated
that the managers have to spend time and
resources on TQM. A historical achievement
by an Indian company winning the coveted
Deming Prize for Overseas Companies, for
successful implementation of TQM, is re-
ported by Sridharan (1998b). The Indian
company Sundaram Clayton, has successfully
turned its people into quality practitioners by
the actual deployment of TQM tools, tech-
niques, and systems.
Indian quality scene ± a critical view
The developments related to Indian compa-
nies, concerning quality of products and
services, need to be examined on a compara-
tive global scale. This would enable
judgement of the progress made in improving
quality. A survey made in 1994 in which
products and services from 41 countries were
ranked by World Competitiveness Report
indicates that the quality of Indian products
and services is disappointing. According to
the summary of results given in Skaria (1995),
India's rank based on different quality para-
meters is as follows (the rank out of 41 is
given followed by the parameter):
. 39 ± price to quality;
. 38 ± practice of TQM;
. 40 ± customer orientation;
. 28 ± product liability;
. 39 ± time to innovate;
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. 38 ± time to market;
. 22 ± corporate credibility.
The report clearly suggested that on a global
scale, Indian products and services are far
from satisfactory, and have a poor image.
This is a major cause of worry for the
corporate managers particularly for those
looking for new markets, and ventures with
foreign collaborators. One commonly quoted
reason for getting away with low quality in
India, is lack of pressure from consumers.
Many managers are of the opinion that unless
the customers are aware of their right to
demand high quality, and insist on companies
to invest in quality, they continue to receive
poor quality products.
While the growth and spread of quality
practices are slow in India, TQM has firmly
seated itself in other Asiatic countries. In a
cover feature on ``Quality in Asia' reported in
World Executive Digest (1996), it is stated that
as Asia grapples with the challenge of
globalization, more and more companies seek
ISO 9000 certification and adopt TQM.
Companies in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malay-
sia, Singapore, and China are overtly involved
in embracing practices of total quality to
march ahead in global markets. According to
The Economic Intelligence Unit (1996),
which surveyed companies in Hong Kong on
quality practices, many TQM issues identified
in other parts of the world are also issues in
the region. The growth of TQM across Asia
however means that new approaches are
being developed in the region.
These observations clearly suggest that
India has to carefully watch the developments
in the Asiatic region, as TQM principles have
been successfully applied by several countries
improving their output quality, attracting
more foreign investment, and hence capable
of restricting India's share in the global
market.
What the quality experts say
In spite of the hype created by the ISO 9000
bandwagon, which today has more than 1,500
companies certified as such, quality is yet to
emerge as a major strength of Indian pro-
ducts. Managers of Indian companies have
still a lot to learn and implement in the image
building process based on quality. This is
perhaps aptly summarized by a statement
made by Philip Crosby as reported in The
Times of India (1997). While addressing a
 Total quality management in India ± perspective and analysis
R. Jagadeesh
news conference at the end of his weeklong
visit to India, Crosby has said that compla-
cency is a major problem with the Indian
management system. The managers of Indian
industries should take this seriously.
In an interview published in Business India
(1997-98) James Harrington, a leading
authority in the field of quality, has stated that
India still has four types of companies: those
with poor performance, with good perfor-
mance, with better performance, and with
outstanding performance. Harrington re-
marks that companies with poor performance
went bankrupt in other parts of the world,
while those with good performance would
follow them. But those with better perfor-
mance will survive and those with outstanding
performance would explode into the twenty-
first century. This indicates that India still has
scope for bad products, and bad performance,
which need to be immediately curbed.
It is pointed out by Sukumar (1998) that
TQM continues to baffle corporate India, as
evident by the different interpretations made
by each person in the industry about what is
TQM. It was observed during the Sixth
Quality Summit organized by the CII in New
Delhi, that TQM means anything and every-
thing depending on the individual's
perspective, politics, and paradigms. During
the summit as many as nine different defini-
tions were presented by the speakers about
what constitutes TQM. This means people in
the corporate sector have no consensus about
the concept of TQM and it could be a
deterrent in its implementation. In another
survey conducted by Arun et al. (1998) with
regard to ISO certified companies interesting
observations were made about implementing
TQM in a company. Out of 17 companies that
were surveyed, managers in seven companies
said that though they believe in TQM they do
not know how to implement it. The survey
further revealed that the long term supplier
relationship, an essential ingredient for suc-
cessful implementation of TQM, has not yet
been recognized as important for achieving
total quality. Other barriers impeding the
implementation of TQM were found to be:
continued dependence on traditional incentive
schemes, numerical targets, performance rat-
ing, slogans for improving productivity, and
not identifying and providing the right type of
training for each and everyone as demanded
for every job. The survey concludes that if all
these factors are not mitigated a company may
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Volume 11 . Number 5 . 1999 . 321±327
continue as ISO certified but not be recog-
nized as a TQM company.
Comments and conclusion
The various surveys independently conducted
by researchers and business publications have
revealed that awareness on quality of products
and services has picked up in India. With
quality based competition intensifying, Indian
industries and business people are showing
keen interest in improving the quality of
products through TQM. A number of orga-
nizations, private and Government are
actively propagating TQM through a variety
of training and educational programs. TQM
has proved to be a vital ingredient for success,
and now has its permanent roots in the
``mission and vision'' of the Indian corporate
sector. However, based on common observa-
tions the requirements for quality to succeed
in India can be summarized as follows:
. a strong consumer movement;
. a sincere and committed drive by the
corporate sector to keep quality as the
main focus;
. strict enforcement of standards by the
regulatory bodies and authorities;
. avoidance of multiple grading of quality
in products, like export quality, first
grade, seconds, import rejects, etc.;
. setting an example in adhering to high
quality performance and output, before
pointing to others.
While TQM no doubt has enabled the Indian
companies to improve the quality of products
and services, the international market de-
mands still higher quality levels to give due
recognition and acceptance. This means
continuing the work with more focused efforts
by Indian companies in their quest for quality.
This paper is expected to motivate in that
direction.
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