The trauma is receding, but India's industry leaders still feel a lack of confidence on the fifth anniversary of November 26. Frontline leaders feel that while the government has taken some steps, a lot still needs to be done before confidence comes back.
Five years since the attack, memories of the incident in which over 160 people were killed does not instil confidence among business leaders that such an act will not happen again.
"No significant measures to restore confidence come to mind. I am not confident that it won't take place, again," says Ajay Piramal, chairman, Piramal Group.
In 2008, when Business Today asked the question: will this be enough to kick-start a reversal in confidence and in activity? Industry leaders responded with hope, and expectation. "I feel the entire issue of security and governance will, in fact, be revisited and hopefully we will see improvements," Adi Godrej, Chairman, Godrej Group had said then. Ness Wadia, Joint MD, Bombay Dyeing had said, "This is a long-awaited wake-up call."
Today, Rahul Bajaj, chairman, Bajaj Group, says he is still not confident enough. "I can only hope that my government has taken steps and will continue to ensure that such an event will not happen again on Indian soil".
On November 26, 2008, at around 9.30 pm, Mumbai came under siege by 10 gunmen who launched simultaneous attacks on key business and tourist locations. These included five-star hotels The Taj, Oberoi and Trident hotels, Leopold Cafe, a restaurant in the shopping district of Colaba famous for being a haunt of foreign tourists, the crowded Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Nariman House, and Cama Hospital.
Mumbai's businesses were hit right in their nerve centre in the event. Ashok Kapur, then chairman of YES Bank was one of the victims. His funeral at Baanganga in South Bombay was attended by CEOs from all over the country, including those from the Tata Group and elsewhere. Anand Bhatt, a senior partner of Wadia, Ghandy & Company, a leading legal firm, lost his life as well.
While the hotels lost close to a year of business due to renovation (actual losses of which still remain unknown), business sentiment towards India had also taken a beating. Media reports suggest while Taj incurred a loss of around Rs 400 crore, Oberoi Group spent close to $40 million (Rs 170 crore then) in renovating the two properties overlooking the Arabian Sea. The 60 hours of terror spread over four days, had resulted in a loss of roughly Rs 4,000 crore to Mumbai, industry body Assocham estimated in 2008 after talking to companies and industries in the city.
Even today, the Taj Mahal palace has a barricade all around it. Most large office complexes are gated and have high, electronically monitored walls. Private security firms have proliferated, and metal detectors and frisking is mandatory, even at shopping malls and theatres.
Terrorist have struck in India after 26/11. People have died in bakeries and on trains. Questions are being asked, and inevitable comparisons are coming out. "It has been thirteen years since 9/11. Since then in the US, no major incident has occurred. But terrorist attacks have happened here," says Piramal.