Why Delhi Bombings Target Business

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Just over 1,600 people have been killed since January 2007, according to the portal.

But experts draw a sharp line between those targeted by left-wing extremists, known as Naxalites, who openly attack industrial projects (BusinessWeek, 5/7/08) and Islamic militants like the Indian Mujahideen, who are suspected of having ties to Pakistani militant groups. "Their aim is the same—create havoc, kill innocent people, cause economic damage—but their motivations are so far apart that it's doubtful that they even speak to each other," said an official with the Intelligence Bureau, who asked not to be named because the bomb blasts were a politically sensitive matter.

Malls Frisk Shoppers

In major metro areas in India, large businesses are mindful of the fact that they might one day become a target. Visitors to movie halls and modern, American-style malls are frisked by uniformed security guards almost as efficiently as at India's airports. Large corporations are asked by police officials to prepare emergency evacuation plans in the case of a bombing. "We worry about being considered a target," says an official at Infosys Technologies (INFY.O), India's outsourcing giant. "Of course we worry. We are large, visible, and everybody knows our name. But you take precautions."

Delhi police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat says there was no intelligence indicating why financial and commercial locations had been chosen for the attacks, saying the investigation was focused simply on cracking the case. But outside Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, where most of the victims were brought, an official with the Home Affairs Ministry, which handles internal security, says the reasons were apparent. "Terrorists pick the most visible targets of a nation's strengths. India is an economic power, and that makes its enemies jealous," he says, asking not to be identified because the issue is expected soon to be addressed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Inside the hospital, where blood streaked across the floor to a room full of injured victims, the question of motive was immaterial. Bheem Kumar, a rickshaw puller who says he was thrown several feet by the impact of blast, sat holding his bandaged head and arm, waiting for his family to find him: "How do I earn without my rickshaw? What do I eat?"

Srivastava reports for BusinessWeek from New Delhi.