This bittersweet book captures the highs and lows of doing business in India. The highs are evident: G.R. Gopinath became a hero for the middle class by allowing the dream of low-cost aviation to take off in India. Fuelled by entrepreneurial testosterone, his is a fascinating journey from the army to farming to a host of small ventures—including “dabbling in politics” with the BJP—that ultimately led to the birth of Air Deccan. How does he pull off the impossible? Not by paying bribes, says he. It’s by working the system any which way, with lots of chutzpah, charm and conviction. And, to his credit, somehow it all miraculously falls into place. Gopinath’s version of this journey is engagingly frank. But it also lays bare the inherent craziness of setting up a consumer-focused business in India.
That’s when the story hits a critical air pocket. After making millions of Indians take to the skies, Air Deccan became a victim of its own meteoric rise. As flights got delayed and cancelled, the lack of attention on flight operations started showing. The airline suffered, leading to its sale and merger with Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher. Gopinath clearly wasn’t happy with how things worked out—but he really had no choice. That’s why, perhaps, he has devoted far too little space to the “lack of communication or cohesion, of leadership and planning” at Air Deccan. That’s an unfortunate omission in a good business story.
