India: Delivering on economic promise
On purchase-power parity index, India is already on the verge of overtaking Japan to become the third largest economy in the world.
By MEHUL VERMA, INDIATIMES NEWS NETWORK |
NEW DELHI: Thought of defining India, a multitude of frequencies rocked my mind. I just could manage to think over where to start from.
Beginning with the economic superstructure: She (India) is basking under the warm Sun after having bagged some of the biggest deals in global corporate world - be it Mittal Arcelor or TATA Corus and some of the most refined corporate mergers. A flurry of activity in the stock markets to FIIs making a home on Indian shores has reflected the investor confidence that is here to stay.
And, relocation and re-distribution of economic power in the hands of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) drives home the point that India is firmly entrenched in the evolving multi-polar global businesses.
The traditionally accepted, top notch global favorite players in Europe and North America are giving way to their popular counterparts in India and China. In terms of market size, breadth and depth, various intelligence agencies even estimate that China will overtake the US between 2030 and 2040, followed by India that will surge beyond US by around 2050. On purchase-power parity index, India is already on the verge of overtaking Japan to become the third largest economy in the world.
My inquisitiveness into the much debated verdict that emerging economies: BRIC+ Indonesia, Mexico and Turkey to overtake the developed countries in economic growth by 2050 emphasize the growing popularity of India and China as investment destinations. Europe and North America, on the other hand, seem to be slipping due to market exhaustion.
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Not just that, it has been witnessed that India and China are growing market bases for the spread of BPO and KPO boom. This basically arises from the versatility with English speaking workforce and intensification of competitive cost pressure. Global companies are resorting to offshore services and manufacturing to lower cost and higher growth economies such as China and India. While the market for goods and services continue to grow even as we inch towards an increasingly free economy, much desired to be one to ensure free and fair market with equitable distribution of wealth. This is a major challenge before the emerging economies including India. Non-transparency of governmental policies needs to be sorted out.
The point to ponder over is inadequate infrastructure capacity vis-à-vis other major players in the global scene. It remains to be seen whether India can cope up with development of infrastructure to match the pace of global investment.
An analyst at the Time magazine suggests, "Surely, India is beginning to deliver on its promise, "unleashing a torrent of growth and wealth creation that is transforming the lives of millions".
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"India's economic clout is beginning to make itself felt on the international stage, as the nation retakes the place it held as a global-trade giant long before colonial powers ever arrived there," says the US magazine's Aug 13 issue. The question that continues to bug me: are we (India) inching towards attaining the status of 'Golden Bird' or Roar of Asian Tiger that is waiting to be heard?
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Yet another area proves that India has finally arrived on the world scene: trade and related negotiations at WTO. Her (Indian) stringent stand not to budge under the pressure of developed world brings to fore the resilience and strength of its economy. Agriculture subsidy and industrial tariffs are two issues on which India has been able to rally the entire developing world. In this backdrop, I firmly believe that it is India’s economic clout that will call shots and not diplomatic or political maneuvering amongst comity of nations. On a positive note while getting ecstatic with the happening Indian growth story, I tend to believe that much more can be done in the near future.
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