Dynamic India hits its stride
By John C. Bersia
Orlando Sentinel
July 19, 2005
The hard-charging Indian network knocked on my door the other day in the form of a high-level delegation led by Chandrakant A. Salunkhe, president of the India International Trade Centre and head of a number of companies.
The visit was all about making contacts, seeking business opportunities, promoting exchanges and expanding connections with the non-resident Indian community â now 22 million strong and growing. Our discussion said volumes about the rapidly changing nature of the global economy, the need to pursue opportunities aggressively and the expanding power of networks.
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I must admit, given my longstanding interest in China and East Asia, that I have paid far more attention to another globe-trotting ethnic group, the dominant, multi-trillion-dollar overseas Chinese network.
Trend forecaster John Naisbitt extensively discussed that group in his prescient work, Megatrends Asia, a decade ago, as he described the shifting of economic influence from nation-states to networks. âThe overseas Chinese are a network of networks. That is a new paradigm, a new formulation within the framework of the worldâs economy,â Naisbitt wrote.
However, in a subsequent conversation with me, Naisbitt suggested keeping an eye on the Indian network, which then numbered around 10 million. He believed that it was just a matter of time before the Indian network evolved into a formidable force, particularly for Indiaâs economic development.
Indeed, it has. Could Indians one day challenge the Chinese for global ethnic network supremacy?
Possibly, and hereâs why. Although the Chinese unquestionably enjoy a comfortable lead, having extended their global reach early â and China itself accelerated that trend by embracing extensive economic reforms in the late 1970s â India has imposing assets.
Those include a similar-sized population and an abundance of talent. Beyond that, India possesses a competitive hunger and a distinct advantage: Indians commonly speak English, the primary language of commerce and the Internet.
Salunkhe and his team â all heavy-hitters from banking, manufacturing, marketing and other sectors â confidently operate with the efficiency and effectiveness of precision equipment. They are all business, even in the anecdotes they share, such as the story of Shirish Jadhav, an entrepreneur who is part of the delegation. Jadhav once scoured the countryside, collecting scrap metal, to make a living. With a combination of pluck and luck, he has lifted himself from rags to riches, and pursues a flourishing real-estate development enterprise. In economic terms, Jadhav is the new India.
The enthusiasm in such discussions quickly becomes infectious, spurring a desire to find out more about the ascendant Indian network and India itself. Opportunities clearly abound.
The sizable middle-income population in India displays an insatiable demand for goods and services of all kinds â an open invitation for American companies that have yet to take advantage of Indiaâs gr
And in that picture, how do you see the emergence of what Kenichi Ohmae refers in his book, "The End of Nation State", as the state-regions?
J.N. - The Chinese diaspora is dominating the whole Asian economy, with the exception of Japan, South Korea and India. It is also necessary to refer the Indian diaspora, of about 10 million of non residents, that generate an economy that is bigger than India. We have to think less of State-Nations. In this way, it is getting more complicated to know, for example, the GNP, of each country, because each country has a lot of economic relations with the rest of the world. Today, the statistic methods used to calculate the GNP are out of fashion. As Kenichi Ohmae puts it: the State-Nations are, in fact, in decline.
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/breaking/...sp?ID=4453
By John C. Bersia
Orlando Sentinel
July 19, 2005
The hard-charging Indian network knocked on my door the other day in the form of a high-level delegation led by Chandrakant A. Salunkhe, president of the India International Trade Centre and head of a number of companies.
The visit was all about making contacts, seeking business opportunities, promoting exchanges and expanding connections with the non-resident Indian community â now 22 million strong and growing. Our discussion said volumes about the rapidly changing nature of the global economy, the need to pursue opportunities aggressively and the expanding power of networks.
ADVERTISEMENT
I must admit, given my longstanding interest in China and East Asia, that I have paid far more attention to another globe-trotting ethnic group, the dominant, multi-trillion-dollar overseas Chinese network.
Trend forecaster John Naisbitt extensively discussed that group in his prescient work, Megatrends Asia, a decade ago, as he described the shifting of economic influence from nation-states to networks. âThe overseas Chinese are a network of networks. That is a new paradigm, a new formulation within the framework of the worldâs economy,â Naisbitt wrote.
However, in a subsequent conversation with me, Naisbitt suggested keeping an eye on the Indian network, which then numbered around 10 million. He believed that it was just a matter of time before the Indian network evolved into a formidable force, particularly for Indiaâs economic development.
Indeed, it has. Could Indians one day challenge the Chinese for global ethnic network supremacy?
Possibly, and hereâs why. Although the Chinese unquestionably enjoy a comfortable lead, having extended their global reach early â and China itself accelerated that trend by embracing extensive economic reforms in the late 1970s â India has imposing assets.
Those include a similar-sized population and an abundance of talent. Beyond that, India possesses a competitive hunger and a distinct advantage: Indians commonly speak English, the primary language of commerce and the Internet.
Salunkhe and his team â all heavy-hitters from banking, manufacturing, marketing and other sectors â confidently operate with the efficiency and effectiveness of precision equipment. They are all business, even in the anecdotes they share, such as the story of Shirish Jadhav, an entrepreneur who is part of the delegation. Jadhav once scoured the countryside, collecting scrap metal, to make a living. With a combination of pluck and luck, he has lifted himself from rags to riches, and pursues a flourishing real-estate development enterprise. In economic terms, Jadhav is the new India.
The enthusiasm in such discussions quickly becomes infectious, spurring a desire to find out more about the ascendant Indian network and India itself. Opportunities clearly abound.
The sizable middle-income population in India displays an insatiable demand for goods and services of all kinds â an open invitation for American companies that have yet to take advantage of Indiaâs gr
And in that picture, how do you see the emergence of what Kenichi Ohmae refers in his book, "The End of Nation State", as the state-regions?
J.N. - The Chinese diaspora is dominating the whole Asian economy, with the exception of Japan, South Korea and India. It is also necessary to refer the Indian diaspora, of about 10 million of non residents, that generate an economy that is bigger than India. We have to think less of State-Nations. In this way, it is getting more complicated to know, for example, the GNP, of each country, because each country has a lot of economic relations with the rest of the world. Today, the statistic methods used to calculate the GNP are out of fashion. As Kenichi Ohmae puts it: the State-Nations are, in fact, in decline.
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/breaking/...sp?ID=4453