A high price to pay

INDIA: A top manager at a multinational car-parts supplier has been killed by his former workers. They forced their way into his office, and then chased and beat him as he was trying to escape.

On September 22, at the firm Graziano Trasmissioni near New Delhi, a mob carrying hammers and metal bars broke down a gate and forced their way into the company. They caught the chief executive Lalit Kishore Chaudhary, 47, as he was trying to jump out of a window.

The killing followed months of labour unrest at the company over the use of temporary workers. It is not clear who organized the attack, but many of the approximately 100 rioters had lost jobs at the company.

India’s labour representatives and government express their sympathy for the family. They promised to do everything in their power to stop further violence, not least to calm foreigners with business interests in India. “There has been a big outcry by investors,” said Aditya Ghildiyal, vice-president of a local industry organization. “If this is the state of affairs, they say, we should be quite worried. There are concerns that no foreign investment will come,” Ghildiyal told the Financial Times.

"There has been a big outcry by investors. They say we should be quite worried."

Based in Italy, Graziano Trasmissioni belongs to the Swiss group Oerlikon. Making car parts in India costs half as much as in Europe, according to analysts. But Uwe Krüger, head of Oerlikon, says the savings should not be paid for with someone’s life.

• Oerlikon press release