I have owned two franchisees of an International Food Chain for the past two years in Delhi. I have been happy as I make good money on my investment. One day, while seeing young boys and girls working at my outlet, I wondered on what kind of employment is being generated in our country for youth. Today there are over 500 outlets of this International Food Franchisee chain employing over 5000 people across India, thus it might seem that it has been a wonderful concept which has bene ted our country.
I have not been able to understand why the government gave permission to these restaurants to enter in our country? What our government, our country and our youth gain from such restaurants? e answer which comes to a simple mind like mine is employability. But then I went on to think that what is the quality of employment being generated in our country? A student who just passed school may want to work with these foreign franchises for approx.. Rs. 7000 per month, and what he will acquire is the skill of sandwich making. After 5 years his level of skill will be the same and another new person will come and replace him for the same salary. us gaining any experience in this nature of work, does not lead to any advantage for such an employee’s career or salary.
The rate of inflation in our country is really high and these restaurants work wonders in countries where inflation is controlled or is minimal. For example, I went to London in 1990 and visited a shop in Paddington. I met a lady of 45 years of age who gave me coke for a pound. In 2013, the same lady gave me coke for one pound. is means, her earnings have been the same and there is no change in lifestyle of that lady in 23 years! I checked and I found I was right. If we compare the Indian worker to this lady, then if the Indian worker gets Rs. 7000 for 5 years, after 5 years someone else will replace him for the same amount at the same position. us he can never aim to better his life by working hard for 5 years and his lifestyle will remain the same. On the other hand the Lady in Lon- don, was maintaining a basic standard of living even 23 years ago and remains to do so, even with the same income levels.
Back in India, life becomes cruel when you earn the same amount of money for 5 years. The service standards will be lost during this, quality of manpower will be low and the royalty will be earned by the franchise owner. However, our country cannot progress with their business and stands little to gain. It is just like the example of the IT industries. Most of our countries engineering college students end up becoming a data entry operator or call center employees. Their progress is constant and skill is also limited. In the long run they will suffer and our country will be losing skilled potentials.
I found some disconnect here which I didn’t know how to answer. is does not mean that we should not generate employment, but the question is what kind of employment will bene- t our country and youth.
I am sure that the Government of India and its policy makers will take into account such simple learning when they go forward and work towards creating millions of new job opportunities for the youth of India.