Radu Georgescu » India http://www.radugeorgescu.ro Jurnal de antreprenor Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:33:39 +0000 en hourly 1 The ‘Indian Dream’ http://www.radugeorgescu.ro/2010/01/30/the-%e2%80%98indian-dream%e2%80%99/ http://www.radugeorgescu.ro/2010/01/30/the-%e2%80%98indian-dream%e2%80%99/#comments Sat, 30 Jan 2010 09:59:27 +0000 Diwaker http://www.radugeorgescu.ro/?p=632 India must be doing something right! At a time when the world is reeling from one of the worst economic recessions in recent history, the country’s GDP is growing at more than 6%. By the year 2012 the country would have become the third largest economy in the world, having surpassed Japan. And, all this has happened in the last 25 years. It is not surprising therefore to be often asked –“what makes India tick?”

The answer to this question is fairly simple. It’s not the government, or the country’s innovative economic policies, the healthy foreign investment, or our long history that has made this happen. The shining stars of India’s economy are undoubtedly it’s entrepreneurs. The government may have played a small role but is most often an inhibitor rather than a supporter. In fact, it is often said that’ India grows when its government sleeps’. Not unlike most countries in the world, India has its share of arrogant bureaucrats and murky politicians. However, Indian entrepreneurs have learnt to rise above these impediments to lead their country towards global economic domination. The entrepreneur is the center of the Indian economic model.

India has done well and facts speak for themselves: The per capita income on a PPP basis has grown from US $ 1,178 in 1980 to over US$ 3100 today; over 1000 Indian companies have received foreign direct investment; 125 of the 500 Fortune 500 companies have R&D bases in India and 390 outsource software development to India; over 100 Indian companies have a market cap of over $ 1 billion. Despite this, India, unlike China, which has primarily focused on industrial production for international markets, the Indian economy is domestic led – 64% of India’s GDP is from internal growth. This is what has made the country resilient and largely insensitive to global economic downturns.

India’s is market-led, fuelled by the insatiable appetite of the Indian entrepreneur and strongly backed by the country’s public and private financial institutions. It is not surprising therefore that more than 80% of the country’s financial credit goes to the private sector and bad debt is at less than 2 percent.

There are a number of views and theories on what makes the Indian entrepreneur successful. Some claim that it is the Indian system of education, others cite a business acumen that its deeply imbedded in the country’s culture. I however have my own views.

I believe that the success of the Indian entrepreneur is driven by an urge to survive and thrive in an intensely competitive environment. Imagine being one of the billion people in line for the country’s resources. Compete for everything from the day that you are born. Having to compete to get a place in the kinder garden, then in primary school, then in high school, then in university and finally get a job as one of the thousands of applicants. To succeed in such an environment you need to be more than just good – you have to be fiercely competitive. In such an environment, there is no second chance, you make it or break it.

India celebrates its 60th year of the formation of the Republic on January 26, 2010. On this occasion I salute the fearless chasers of the ‘Indian dream’ – India’s unstoppable entrepreneurs.

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