How would you sum up your life in Britain?

I didn't come to Britain to live here. I came here for a very personal reason of treatment for my daughter. The thing which I found most interesting about Britain is that if you are prepared to work hard and if you are prepared to work as the local people do, you have wonderful opportunity. And in spite of all what gets talked about--the question of racialism, or this or that--there is lot of opportunity in this country. In 1996, I was asked to be a member of the House of Lords, which was a great privilege for anyone but especially for a person whose family was involved in the Indian freedom struggle, one who got his name Swraj (freedom in Hindi) because that was the slogan of the Indian Congress Party during the struggle against the British.

What were the special ingredients that explain your business success?

I think the main thing is that whether you are prepared to face a challenge. People here thought that the steel industry was a thing of the past, that Britain cannot produce things competitively. I found that not enough money had been invested in modernizing plants. I thought up ways to increase productivity. The same thing with manufacturing. I knew that Britain would need a manufacturing business. It was a belief that perhaps by doing it by another method I might succeed. You also need a lot of luck. And that's what happened. And because I was successful in doing that, people respected that. And that gives you extra encouragement, especially when the host country starts valuing your work. There will always be ups and downs in life, but one must not lose heart.

How did you become involved in politics?

I had the privilege of knowing the late Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who, in my view, was one of the greatest politician of the 20th century. She once offered me the Indian High Commissioner's post in London, but I respectfully declined. I wanted to stay on in manufacturing. Still, I was always in the game because of that knowledge of politics gained from Mrs. Gandhi. I had really the absolute ringside seat. I joined Labour in 1974 because of their belief in social justice and their belief that a very sound manufacturing industry was needed in Britain. I stood by them. After being made life peer in 1996, I got deeper into British politics than I had ever intended or thought of in my life. In 1997, I was asked to become ambassador for British business, which takes me around the world to promote British investment, British trade, waterways, exports, imports, inward investments, outward investments.

What's it like being a member of the House of Lords?

There isn't another institution like the House of Lords. It's a nominated house. Under conventional democracy, it shouldn't be there at all. But from what I have seen, it is the most democratic house at the same time in the world. Because all of us are nominated for life. And nobody can remove us from there. So this gives you the freedom to be able to say what you wish because you don't have to worry about, "Do I have to fight an election after four years? No law in this country can be passed without the approval of both Houses, the House of Lords and the House of Commons. Some of the bills keep shuttling between House of Commons and House of Lords for days together. And years. So, House of Lords really make amendments to those bills to make sure that the common man's interest is looked after. The requirement from all of us is if we want to attend it, we attend it. If we don't want to attend it, there is no sanction again it. We don't get paid. we only just get an allowance from the day we attend, which is really your money for transport and tea. You are doing this as a voluntary service giving the benefit of your experience. Being here teaches you a tolerance for the other people's bills. Everybody speaks passionately and strongly. Every time you go there, you feel humble.

You were among the very first to urge greater liberalization and transparency in the Indian economy. Are you satisfied with how things have worked out?

I got heavily criticized when I first started talking publicly about corporate accountability and economic liberalization. But since 1991, everybody jumped on the bandwagon of opening up the economy. They're still talking about it, though they haven't gone for as much reforms and transparency as they should have and they could have. And in my view, the earlier they do it, India will gain more. India should be far higher in the hierarchy of the world's development nations. We have nothing to be embarrassed about concerning the ability of our people to achieve. It has certainly given me lot of satisfaction that perhaps I had some little part to play in the change. But the change has definitely come.

Are India's economic growth and social development increasingly going to be a test of national character?

National character will always remain the top matter of any country's progress. The biggest problem of developing countries -and now, even some of the developed countries--is corruption. And that corruption has to go. If you see the progress of nations, you can almost draw a graph between corruption and their development. I think that corruption is the number one enemy hindering sustainable development. Corruption will get only removed by competition and by liberalization and transparency. Plus the people in power need to understand that human values also have to be created in the public. A social responsibility has to be there. People have to care about other people. We got to improve of our education. We got to improve other responsibility as citizens. That is why we have been taking up the subject of environment in the House of Lords. People think environment is only the climate. Or some people think environment is something which some other country should bother about, not us. Environment is a total concept. Environment is also, in my view, about how you behave with your fellow beings. How do you behave with your children? How do you behave in your business? How do you react to each other? To me, that is total environment. And that has to be cleaned up.