Just like the good’ol saying, ‘United we stand, divided we fall’, associations represent a collective bunch of people with same interests, occupation or agenda unanimously standing for the rights and development of its member. In its true sense, the role of the association is to help sort out the internal differences and present a united picture externally. Because of the highly fragmented nature of the industry, it becomes difficult for them to come together on small issues, therefore an industry association acts as the united voice of the industry. And this is precisely what the association does: serve as a channel between the industry and the government. At times they lobby hard on the various industry issues with policy makers. While they counsel and guide the members of the organisation, it’s important to make sure that there is no monopoly.

Also, it’s not always possible to have uniformity in the thoughts and ideas of companies of all trade bodies put together. The fact is that several trade bodies exist because they represent different priorities and issues of various factions of the industry. It is not unusual to have some difference of opinion with the government on some issues. And they can be resolved only through continuous robust data based dialogue with the government. As in the absence of solid data, such discussion may turn out to be the Government’s perception versus the industry’s perception with no resolution of conflict.

Going by the nature of these bodies, each one of them has their own priority. While Government is tilted towards public welfare, industry would consider personal growth as a priority. And the responsibility of binding them with a common thread rests with the trade bodies. In spite of the fact that trade bodies are formed to represent the industry, they are in a delicate position wherein they can neither oversee the public good nor the industry interests. The association by far does take charge of such areas individually and tries to present a picture to the government in such a way, that, the authority is compelled to take a decision which is conducive to the growth and prosperity of the industry while satisfying the actual needs of the masses.

Industry associations try to inspire change within their members by putting certain standards in place. According to Prasant Saha, founder of Association Network, “Real value of association has not been unlocked as yet. The fact of associations is to promote the interest of members while ensuring the service standards and best practices are maintained for the common people.”

But when it comes to pricing and key regulatory like Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) issues the industry is tight lipped due to the nature of the subject. This is one example where the industry seems to be divided over opinion and lacks uniformity of views. Similarly, uniformity may not be there in issues like ‘patents’ because of its controversial nature. In such cases association representatives try and see that individual associations take it to the government separately, as there is a conflict of ideas because MNCs may offer a different view compared to domestic companies. This is what undermines the importance for a single body to work together as a single force. It is because of this reason that we should start paying more importance to associations and in fact, we have something happening very soon in Mumbai the economic capital where “India Association Congress” in its second edition is trying to bring over 350 associations together to understand and find solutions to protect the right of people and as a whole associations.