India: The new Land of Opportunity

India's Economic Development

Indians have a right to feel aggrieved at the fact China gets so much of the attention reserved for the world's emerging economies. The communist state does indeed have an impressive balance sheet since the changes made to its economic policy that began in the 1970s took effect, but India, a country which can also boast a population in excess of one billion, also has an aggressively growing economy that shows no signs of slowing.

However despite China's dominance of the headlines, India's charge has not gone completely unnoticed. In almost every sector in America from healthcare to technology, excitement is growing over the business opportunities that present themselves in the Asian giant. And it isn't just the fact that it's cheap to do business in India that is attracting US attention, the nation's 1.2 billion people appear to be one of the biggest lures for foreign business.

At a recent business forum at Duke University in North Carolina aimed at promoting opportunities in India, the current buzz felt in America was underlined by Debu Purohit, professor of business administration and academic director.

"There is tremendous excitement about India," he said.

"The change that's coming..."

Looking at challenges of doing business with and within India from the perspective of either Indians in India or from that of multinationals, the focus was solely on a cost-driven argument, he went on to say.

The success story of India's economy has shifted sentiment that the sunny shores of California and its technology-rich Silicon Valley were one of the only places where Indian students could start a successful business. Doing business with and within India has become far easier in recent years and this has convinced many students to stay at home after university that may have previously travelled abroad, taking their much needed skills with them.

"The change that's coming about is that there is now a reason to be in India for the Indian market. Now many of the students from India say that they want to start a company in India," he said.

The recession had its part to play as the US economy slowed significantly, consequently transforming India from being a good location to outsource operations to a genuine end market for US products and services.

"The facilities in India are world class"

Nandakumar Jairam, Chairman & Group Medical Director, Columbia Asia Hospitals, India, was at the summit to echo Purohit's comments, especially when it comes to healthcare, "Everyone believed it was a good time to be in healthcare in India."

He also saw an opportunity for Indians in President Barack Obama's healthcare insurance reforms "to offer healthcare to people in the US, perhaps in greater degree than has been previously possible because that is becoming such a problem in the US."

"The facilities in India are world class. The medical care by Indian professionals is globally known and understood. So this combination and the cost advantage, which is huge, provided enormous opportunities," Jairam said.

Whereas problems with infrastructure, education and corruption remain, as China keeps flexing its ever growing economic muscles India is likely to keep growing happily alongside in its shadow but as long as the right people are aware of the opportunities available in the country, I doubt Indians will be complaining.

Related Articles:

India give green energy budget a boost | Asia-Pacific makes its mark on rich list | There's just no stopping China

Daniel Jones

Daniel is a Politics and Philosophy graduate from Cardiff University where he also worked as a section editor on the award winning student newspaper. After university he joined an IT support company where he was a B2B online writer. He loves anything to do with sport and joined GDS in July 2009.

Like this article? Get the RSS feed: