India's economic march in the past few years needs no introduction - the world has been witnessing it for some time now. But even keeping that in the mind, the sheer force with which India is rising boggles the mind. Just a cursorary look at the Forbes List released today throws up some amazing numbers.
The Ambanis - Mukesh and Anil, are placed at #14 and # 18 this year - last year they were #56 and #104. Anil Ambani has gained a net 12 Billion this year, while Mukesh has gained some 10 Billion. In 365 days. Pause a bit to think that they have not even started their dream projects of setting up mega retail chains and the other mega ventures.
India now has more billionaires than the economic powerhouse of Japan. India has more billionaires in the top 20 list than any other country - bar the US.
But that just covers the the richest of the rich, you say ? - Look again. And look again carefully.
India's GDP is growing at a net rate of about 9 % for quiet some time, the forex reserves have never been higher, and the BSE index breaks some record almost every day you check.
The Infrastructure is growing. The Airline Industry is opening up. India just signed a deal with the US to generate nuclear power. India is one of the premier countries working in the field of rocket science. The Indian pharmaceutical companies are booming - competing to take over the divisions of US Pharmaceutical companies that they would not even dream of competing with 10 years back.
The largest aluminum company in the world now is India's Hindalco. The worlds largest steel company, Mittal Steel, has set its future interests in India. Tata Steel succeded in an outrageous bid to take over the very reason for its former rulers power - British steel - the very company that fueled Britain's Industrial revolution. All the major car manufacturers have their eyes set on India to fund their growth in the coming years. Let us not even speak of the many smaller industries and companies that are trying to get their foot in the door.
This list does not even talk about the software and the services sector. We do not even need to go there.
I had met an american friend when I was in Pune few months back and he had said to me then - "I still do not see what the fuss is about - the roads, the cars, the infrastructure is nowhere near what is present in the western countries "
My reply to him would be this - " Yes - we still have a long way to go, but consider this - If we are doing so well with what we have right now - can you imagine where we will be - when all these problems you talk about are dealt with ? "
To put things into perspective, recall this. The United States - which is an economical behemoth of almost unrealistic proportions, was near bankruptcy by the year 1929/1930. The backbone of the US - its interstate highway system was started in the 1950's. The USA beat USSR to the moon in the 1960's. Thousands of Nuclear weapons were piled up - just as a gentle reminder to the world. By the 1970's , US was one of the foremost powerhouses in the world - powered by a generation of brilliant industrious americans - those that we call the "Industrial Baby Boomers"
Now take a look at Modern India. Post Independance - upto the 1970's India was near bankruptcy. After opening up the economy in the 1990's- the money started flowing in. India developed indigenous missiles, beat Pakistan in the "Nuclear Club" race - oh yeah - our gentle reminder to the rest of the world. The Golden Quadrilateral was completed by 2005. The Railways - managed by a rustic leader - set record profits in 2006.
Lady History loves repeating herself and the stage is perfectly set for India. It is for India to take the lead and set the trail for the next century - and the young generation of Indians have to shoulder the responsibility of acting as the "Software Baby Boomers" of this century. We must not fail her.
Indians form the largest pool of the worlds educated youngsters. Millions of young educated people - living in a free and democratic country. Millions of them eager to get a chance to prove themselves. Millions who, from the very day they are born - are pushed by everyone around towards just one goal - to be successful.
Something is bound to happen - one way or the other. The road ahead is long and a lot has to be done. We all know that no work is done until it is really done.
The world still looks on as India is waking. As India is Rising. She must not forget her tryst with destiny.
The Ambanis - Mukesh and Anil, are placed at #14 and # 18 this year - last year they were #56 and #104. Anil Ambani has gained a net 12 Billion this year, while Mukesh has gained some 10 Billion. In 365 days. Pause a bit to think that they have not even started their dream projects of setting up mega retail chains and the other mega ventures.
India now has more billionaires than the economic powerhouse of Japan. India has more billionaires in the top 20 list than any other country - bar the US.
But that just covers the the richest of the rich, you say ? - Look again. And look again carefully.
India's GDP is growing at a net rate of about 9 % for quiet some time, the forex reserves have never been higher, and the BSE index breaks some record almost every day you check.
The Infrastructure is growing. The Airline Industry is opening up. India just signed a deal with the US to generate nuclear power. India is one of the premier countries working in the field of rocket science. The Indian pharmaceutical companies are booming - competing to take over the divisions of US Pharmaceutical companies that they would not even dream of competing with 10 years back.
The largest aluminum company in the world now is India's Hindalco. The worlds largest steel company, Mittal Steel, has set its future interests in India. Tata Steel succeded in an outrageous bid to take over the very reason for its former rulers power - British steel - the very company that fueled Britain's Industrial revolution. All the major car manufacturers have their eyes set on India to fund their growth in the coming years. Let us not even speak of the many smaller industries and companies that are trying to get their foot in the door.
This list does not even talk about the software and the services sector. We do not even need to go there.
I had met an american friend when I was in Pune few months back and he had said to me then - "I still do not see what the fuss is about - the roads, the cars, the infrastructure is nowhere near what is present in the western countries "
My reply to him would be this - " Yes - we still have a long way to go, but consider this - If we are doing so well with what we have right now - can you imagine where we will be - when all these problems you talk about are dealt with ? "
To put things into perspective, recall this. The United States - which is an economical behemoth of almost unrealistic proportions, was near bankruptcy by the year 1929/1930. The backbone of the US - its interstate highway system was started in the 1950's. The USA beat USSR to the moon in the 1960's. Thousands of Nuclear weapons were piled up - just as a gentle reminder to the world. By the 1970's , US was one of the foremost powerhouses in the world - powered by a generation of brilliant industrious americans - those that we call the "Industrial Baby Boomers"
Now take a look at Modern India. Post Independance - upto the 1970's India was near bankruptcy. After opening up the economy in the 1990's- the money started flowing in. India developed indigenous missiles, beat Pakistan in the "Nuclear Club" race - oh yeah - our gentle reminder to the rest of the world. The Golden Quadrilateral was completed by 2005. The Railways - managed by a rustic leader - set record profits in 2006.
Lady History loves repeating herself and the stage is perfectly set for India. It is for India to take the lead and set the trail for the next century - and the young generation of Indians have to shoulder the responsibility of acting as the "Software Baby Boomers" of this century. We must not fail her.
Indians form the largest pool of the worlds educated youngsters. Millions of young educated people - living in a free and democratic country. Millions of them eager to get a chance to prove themselves. Millions who, from the very day they are born - are pushed by everyone around towards just one goal - to be successful.
Something is bound to happen - one way or the other. The road ahead is long and a lot has to be done. We all know that no work is done until it is really done.
The world still looks on as India is waking. As India is Rising. She must not forget her tryst with destiny.
3 comments:
Suraj thoughtful blog and very good parallels with the US growth. India is still riding on the software wave and if GOD forbid it comes to a bust then where is the backup plan? (Not to mention we would be out of jobs and don't have a backup plan either ;-).
But yeh as u mentioned the signs are really positive, the Sensex numbers boggles me everytime I look at it, the literacy rate is at an all time high and not to mention people are drawing fat pay checks and the buying power of the common man is beyond imagination.
Suraj
Very good blog with a lot of valid points and you proved me wrong. You do have a lot in your vocabulary other than the exclamation :-). Having said that, lets dissect your blog point by point
1. @ Feed the rich -- Yes, India does have a lot of rich people based in India as well as abroad and sometimes "feed the rich" does help, looking purely with a capitalist view. But the "dream-projects" that they have, most of the times clash against the visions of each of these rich men. It is great for the economy since it is producing more jobs and the standard of living is improving but I really think that visionaries with niche plans are lacking.
@GDP -- Very valid point but in the same vein we should try to compare it with the GDP of China and we don't even come close. They have the exact same problems that we do with respect to population but China's growth has been much more meteoric. I feel that we have much more potential and though the rise is good, we should do a sanity check against these developed countries by comparing against our contemporaries in this race.
@Steel and aluminum - Hands down great growth in both these industries. But here you cannot call it a meteoric rise just over the past 15-20 yrs. There is a great history of the vision and hard work over a 100 yrs ( especially Tata Steel)
4.@ Software Industry : As far as the software industry is concerned, we are more in a reactive ( riding the crest of the wave -- service-oriented) stage rather than a proactive one ( research oriented). Again this comes back to Balls' point about having little or no backup plans.
To summarize, yes the growth is great and the parallels are flattering. But just saying that "India is rising" by turning a blind eye towards existing problems of population, illiteracy, corruption and lack of infrastructure planning over the years doesn't appeal to me
I totally agree with you guys. I agree with every point aup has raised.
As with China - even the US of the 1960's had a very large and a very powerful communist adversary to deal with. No one knew who would prevail. We know how that went.
Agreed - there are many negatives to be taken care of. But things change fast if there is enterprise.
What I meant to say was " the stage is set - the work is yet to be done "
We have the same opportunity that any great rising empire had - be it the Aryans, the Romans, the British, or the US. Of course things can go wrong. Of course we will face competition from every front.
I remember a quote which said "I wondered why somebody was not doing anything about it. Then i realized that I was that somebody "
All those astute visionaries and backup planners will have to be one of the young and upcoming generation - our generation.
In the year 1990's - if I had said that India could be a global leader - people would have laughed at that thought.
Today, we Debate it - that idea is no longer laughable. The change - just 10 years.
What happens in the future - only time can tell. The opportunity is there
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