India and China have had a big influence on the world economy but India must ....

Los Angeles, Oct. 05, 2007
Gary Singh

There is no doubt that India and China graduate a combined half a million engineers and scientists a year, vs. 60,000 in the US." As Cisco's Scheinman puts it: "We came to India for the costs, we stayed for the quality, and we're now investing for the innovation."

"China already has the world's biggest base of cell-phone subscribers -- 350 million -- and that is expected to near 600 million by 2009. In two years, China should overtake the US in homes connected to broadband. Less noticed is that India's consumer market is on the same explosive trajectory as China five years ago. Since 2000, the number of cellular subscribers has rocketed from 5.6 million to 55 million.

Such alarmism is understandable. But the US and other established powers will have to learn to make room for China and India.

In India’s case, there are two nations. One is ‘India Shining’, which the government keeps harping about, but the other India is one where even basic human needs are not being met. While Indian officials have been touting last year’s 8 percent economic growth, during the same year 1.25 million children below the age of one died, around 50 million children were out of school and half of India’s children were malnourished." Salil Shetty, Director, U.N. Millennium Campaign, and former chief executive, ActionAid.

"India is only shining for a small section of society, for the posh middle class strata and above. The incomes of these people have risen, while for the vast majority unemployment is growing

It is hard to predict that India will be the world's other emerging superpower. When we see the extreme poverty abound even in the business capitals. A lack is expressways and subways leeds to a nightmare traffic.

NRIs main concern with India is the integrity of its people. Simple things like not keeping promises. Not keeping appointments. This can be very damaging in business.

UK entrepreneur, NRI Lord Swraj Paul is now eyeing China where it wants to invest in automobile sector. "China is very much on our agenda. If an opportunity comes, our people would love to do so (make investment) in the automobile component sector," the USD 1.5 billion Group's Chairman Lord Paul told PTI in an interview here. "We certainly see more potential in China", although the Group has no specific plans as of now, the NRI industrialist said

A New York times journalist. Thomas Friedman, a three-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, visited India to learn more about the impact of outsourcing as well as globalization on the Indian economy, society and culture. His study led to a ground-breaking book titled - The world is flat.

In his article he said,

Every time I visit India, Indians always ask me to compare India with China. Lately, I have responded like this:

If India and China were both highways, the Chinese highway would be a six-lane, perfectly paved road, but with a huge speed bump off in the distance labeled "Political reform: how in the world do we get from Communism to a more open society?" When 1.3 billion people going 80 miles an hour hit a speed bump, one of two things happens: Either the car flies into the air and slams down, and all the parts hold together and it keeps on moving - or the car flies into the air, slams down and all the wheels fall off. Which it will be with China, I don't know.

India, by contrast, is like a highway full of potholes, with no sidewalks and half the street lamps broken. But off in the distance, the road seems to smooth out, and if it does, this country will be a dynamo. The question is: Is that smoother road in the distance a mirage or the real thing?

At first blush, coming back to Bangalore, India's Silicon Valley, that smoother road seems like a mirage. The infrastructure here is still a total mess. But looks can be deceiving. Beneath the mess, Bangalore is entering a mature new phase as a technology center by starting to produce its own high-tech products, research, venture capital firms and start-ups.

In his latest book, The World is Flat, Friedman describes the unplanned cascade of technological and social shifts that effectively leveled the economic world, and “accidentally made Beijing, Bangalore and Bethesda next-door neighbors.” Today, “individuals and small groups of every color of the rainbow will be able to plug and play.” Friedman’s list of “flatteners” includes the fall of the Berlin Wall; the rise of Netscape and the dotcom boom that led to a trillion dollar investment in fiber optic cable; the emergence of common software platforms and open source code enabling global collaboration; and the rise of outsourcing, offshoring, supply chaining and insourcing. Friedman says these flatteners converged around the year 2000, and “created a flat world: a global, web-enabled platform for multiple forms of sharing knowledge and work, irrespective of time, distance, geography and increasingly, language.” At the very moment this platform emerged, three huge economies materialized -- those of India, China and the former Soviet Union --“and three billion people who were out of the game, walked onto the playing field.” A final convergence may determine the fate of the U.S. in this final chapter of globalization. A “political perfect storm,” as Friedman describes it -- the dotcom bust, the attacks of 9/11, and the Enron scandal -- “distract us completely as a country.” Just when we need to face the fact of globalization and the need to compete in a new world, “we’re looking totally elsewhere

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Conclusion by Gary Singh:

There is one question comes to my mind: India invented Zero but for the past 100 years, name one Indian brand or one innovation that is known worldwide.

• Why can’t India have a Samosa-Hut operating in foreign countries ?
• Why can’t Indians have cleanest roads, fastest trains, subways, excellent customer service & beautiful buildings?
• Why Indians don't gather a team of top-notch computer engineers from IITs to develop an Operating System that will put Windows & Linux.?

What is reason behind it:

• While America has spent a lot of time projecting the greatness of American values -- its democracy, its capitalism, and its military -- to the rest of the world, the same America has in most occasions obstructed these same values from taking root in other countries. America also has done little or nothing to learn the values and civilizations others bring on board. Since the demise of the Soviet Union, America has projected more of its national interests and cared less about the rest of the world; it’s either an American way or no way at all.?
• More than 60% Americans want to have their own business and even more amazingly, only 3% of them want to do it for the want of money.
• A major share of America’s GDP comes from the small businesses.
• But why has America overnight turned its back on the rest of the world? Or wasn’t it the same America that helped the world fight the last two world wars; that helped rebuild Europe and Japan after World War II; that helped create the United Nations; that helped establish the World Bank; that helped liberate the rest of the world from European colonialism; that helped the world eradicate polio; and that helped bring communism to its knees?

Indians are to busy servicing the ‘others’. They brag their expertise in outsourced software development. Who cares, as long as they make Rs. 45 equal to one dollar!

Political Leader are very busy collecting funds for next election and to grab the votes from different communities by attending functions such as marriages, birthday parties and temples. Govt. is very busy to involve in evey project such as Airline, railway and hydro......

Now more than 11 mn small businesses in India are facing numerous challenges and problems in liberalized economy and post WTO context.

To stay in the global market, don't find excuses... We, NRIs are always thinking about India, talking about you in parties, in temples and even on the telephone when we are driving.

Thomas Friedman, a New York times journalist and a three-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, visited India
to learn more about the impact of outsourcing

The Discovery Channel recently aired a documentary on his visit to India. Here's a link to the Clickvideo: