November 2025

Mr. BHARAT WAKHLU, FASQ; FAIMA Founder and President of 'The Wakhlu Advisory' – a strategic global consulting and leadership coaching firm Mr Bharat's professional journey spans over 4 decades, distinguished by his 30 year association with the iconic Tata Group. Beginning his career as a Tata Administrative Service (TAS) executive in Tata Steel, he rose through the ranks to serve as Resident Director of Tata Sons in New Delhi. Throughout this period, Mr Bharat catalysed Total Quality and transformational growth across diverse businesses, grounded in ethical leadership and sustained value creation. Mr Bharat is a first-class mechanical engineer from BITS Pilani and a postgraduate from IIM Bangalore. An acclaimed Fellow of the American Society for Quality and the All-India Management Association, he has authored 8 books, including 'Total Quality: Excellence Through Organisation-wide Transformation'. Today, Mr Bharat is a sought-after leadership coach and a facilitator for strategic business transformation and innovation. Through FPACL, he is actively advancing leadership development and skills enhancement for women, youth and the underserved, helping them realise their highest potential. Co-founder of the not-for-profit 'Foundation for Peace and Compassionate Leadership' (FPACL) Q. How would you define QUALITY in simple language for a consumer and what should a consumer look for in a tangible manner to access QUALITY? Quality is best defined as 'fitness for use'. If a product (or a service) meets the entire range of performance expectations of consumers in the right manner and at a price that is generally considered competitive for the value offered, that product would be deemed to be of the appropriate quality. Consumers with the same 'wants', which remain consistent over time, can be clubbed together into what may be termed a 'market'. A market, when accessing quality goods (or services), will need to ensure that the offerings from the producers meet all their performance expectations at all times, consistently. Then, if all the competing goods serving that market meet the 'fitness for use' test, specific, discerning consumers will apply the 'value filter': factoring in the price of the product, and determining which of the competing choices offers the most value. The product that provides the highest ratio between the perceived Quality (Q) and the offered Price (P), would be perceived as 'most valuable' by specific consumers. If they are rational buyers, they are likely to go for the product that provides the greatest value. Q. The theme for World Quality Month 2025 is 'Quality: Think Differently'. This theme encourages individuals and organisations to reconsider and reimagine their traditional approaches to quality management and to explore fresh ideas that can drive lasting value. What do you propose for India to promote QUALITY differently? The theme for the World Quality Month, 2025 is an apt one – it suggests that Quality is an ever-moving target. As consumer expectations and aspirations continue to change rapidly over time, there is a need for producers of goods and services to continuously improve their offerings, the processes by which they do so and, more importantly, to innovate rapidly and leverage the advances in the diverse new technologies available, to deliver consistent, competitive value to consumers. For India to promote 'quality' differently, we need to get our fundamentals right. Despite all the great work that has been done within public sector companies and private ones to enhance process and product quality, some serious lapses – in critical areas – remain. For instance, 'leadership' is one such critical area, without which 'quality' is relegated to the 'rank and file' rather than where it needs to begin: namely in Board Rooms. Leaders, especially at the top of their respective organisations, have to imbibe 'quality values' to drive their organisations to excellence and superior performance. Simple actions, such as ensuring punctuality at all times, a zero-tolerance for wrong-doing and any kind of corruption to cut corners or bypass compliance requirements, are imperative. Furthermore, 'Quality' cannot merely be confined to the premises of one's company or to one's home. I have visited companies where expensive products are made and where the premises are spotlessly clean. Yet, just beyond the walls of the company's factory, there is a garbage dump that has been there for years! This happens because executives don't see problems outside of an imaginary 'boundary' as their concern. This attitude needs to change. That is why Indian leaders – across the board – have to start to 'think differently', and to realise why we, as a nation, have yet to make the phrase, 'Made in India' synonymous with outstanding quality in all spheres. Q. Please share your studied views on how quality is so often compromised for the consumers in India, especially in the healthcare delivery system, insurance, banking, public transport and similar services? As I shared earlier, products or services that are considered to be of high quality must consistently meet all the performance expectations of all the customers who acquire such products or use the offered services. The key word here is: 'consistently' which implies that, over time, even as the aspirations of the consumers are changing, the organisations delivering the goods 'keep an ear to the ground' to listen to the feedback of their customers. Many of the offerings that you have mentioned – healthcare, public transportation, insurance or banking – are delivered by organisations that do not have a culture of continuously capturing the voice of the customer. As a result, consumers of the services are short-changed – either because the product offered is 'unfit for use' or the processes by which the goods are offered leave the consumers unhappy and irritated. Fortunately, these lapses are not intractable problems that do not have solutions. They call for committed leaders, who consciously want to delight their consumers, to make their organisations more customer-centric and responsive to customer aspirations. In the absence of such intentionality, the lapses will continue even as the consumers suffer. Q. Has accreditation by NABH, NABL, NABCB, BIS and others in India empowered the consumers to make an informed choice? Has quality