In the comments for the this post, Swami asks:
…if you can follow a standard for safety elsewhere why not here?

Kingsley responds, claiming that to expect higher standards for MNCs than for Indian companies indicates that we have a colonial mentality. Swaminathan Aiyar(via Yazad) makes the same point. I suspect plagiarism.

However, I disagree with King?ley. We do expect better from reputable companies, not just MNCs. It is worse to build up a reputation of good quality and then failing to deliver than to deliver consistently bad quality, because in the former case you wouldn’t have taken precautions.

Where I disagree with Swami is his assumption that offering anything less than the safest option possible is negligience regardless of your reasons for doing so.

Unfortunately, in life, you have to make choices even over life-or-death issues. We do so all the time.
Will you vaccinate yourself against a fatal disease that you have 0.01% chance (1 in 10,000) of catching, if the vaccination is going to take up half your savings? It is a fatal disease right? What is a few lakh rupees when it comes to your life?

But you realise that the chance of your getting the disease is small (though that is cold comfort if the 1 in 10,000 choice does come through). You recognize that the few lakh rupees that you are considering spending would otherwise make life livable. That is the money that you would otherwise use to buy a house or pay for your child’s education. If you get rich, you’ll probably afford the vaccination.

Coke too faces similar constraints. It has to use Indian bottlers, work with Indian infrastructure, face Indian competitors who charge Indian prices and sell to Indian customers who pay Indian prices. These issues don’t go away just because they have an international brand.

Customer pressure is also needed Our chalta hai attitude is certainly one of the reasons we get lower standards, but not the only one. As we get richer, we will demand better and get it.

But demanding international standards right away or trying to force the issue through government action will have a perverse effect. You will penalize good quality for not being perfect while leaving the bad as it is. You will waste government resources and hire sanitation inspectors to check Coke bottling plants instead of using the resources to provide better water supply.