How Rs. 1 SMS won Nano
By Techgirl

Every week, readers are sweet enough to send me story ideas as well as information on what is happening in our IT and BPO shops.  Last week, someone who prefers anonymity (Thanks Tipster) sent me the real story behind the story on how Nano drove from West Bengal to Gujarat

By now it is history that in 2008 Mamata Banerjee had gone on a hunger strike outside the TATA Nano project at Singur, West Bengal.  The Mamata Didi agitation was so successful that the big boy of Indian business, Ratan Tata, was forced to move. A number of States started lobbying for the Nano Project as it would mean more jobs and prosperity.

Now, Gujarat Chief Minister and economic guru Shri Narendra Modi has revealed how he used technology to break the ice with Ratan Tata about the Nano project.

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Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that a rupee spent by him sending an SMS to Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata resulted in an Rs 2,000 crore investment in the form of Tata Nano car plant at Sanand.

Modi was speaking after inaugurating the plant in the first week of June, 2010.

I sent the SMS to Ratan Tata saying ‘Welcome to Gujarat’ after the group announced its pullout from West Bengal.
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What happens now?  With the dynamic Mr. Modi publicly revealing how he uses SMS to woo business, has Mr. Tata opened the flood gates to spam? Will other Chief Ministers start copying the successful Mr. Modi?  Every time a new TCS campus needs a home or TAJ wants a new hotel,  will Mr. Ratan Tata be spammed by every Chief Minister, Cabinet Minister and Governor (where states don’t have CMs) lobbying via SMSes?

It is no secret that business icon Ratan Tata is a great admirer of Mr. Modi and Gujarat.  But if Ratan does not like a politician could he file a legal case for violating the Do Not Call Registry.  I logged on to the Indian Government’s Do Not Call Registry and found that its mission is

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The primary objective of the National Do Not Call Registry (NDNC Registry) is to curb Unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC). UCC has been defined as "any message, through telecommunications service, which is transmitted for the purpose of informing about, or soliciting or promoting any commercial transaction in relation to goods, investments or services which a subscriber opts not to receive
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And I thought it was bad for a bank to cold call me selling a credit card!  Imagine what Mr. Tata has to go through if he gets a SMS from every Chief Minister selling their state for the next Nano plant. 

Mr. Modi, Sir I know most people will think I am crazy for offering advice to a great man like you.  But do shop around.  I am sure you will get a phone plan where you can send SMSes for a few paisa rather than spending one full rupee.  Perhaps Mr. Tata’s phone company can give you a good SMS deal? 

Techgoss note: Techgirl is a senior Tech journalist who reports on the IT, KPO and KPO Sectors for a leading media house.  In her spare time, she dabbles in satire in her blog http://techgirltalk.blogspot.com