The Great Debate UK
Britain must adjust to new relationship with India
Last week, on his first Prime Ministerial visit to the United States, David Cameron conceded that Britain was the “junior partner” in the special relationship. Next week, I fear that at the end of the much anticipated visit to India, he may yet again, have to concede that Britain is the junior partner in this ever increasing important relationship.
I attended an event some years ago in which the then Director General of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) — Digby Jones — evangelised the need for UK Plc to embrace India, not for nostalgic or historic reasons, but to secure their survival. He explained “in the fullness of time, the past 250 years will be seen as a mere blip, an anomaly, in which India was subjugated. The future belongs to a resurgent India”.
It’s difficult to argue otherwise, just take a look at some of the statistics that stand out:
• Almost 25 percent of the world workforce will reside in India within the next 15 years. The average age of its citizens will be a youthful 29 in 2020, whereas in Western Europe the average stands at 45. India’s demographic profile provides a huge opportunity for her in the next century.
• India has a middle class larger than the entire population of the US — some 300 million residents, armed with a disposable income and looking for new avenues to spend their cash. The spectacular thing is that India’s middle class isn’t confined to its big cities or metros as they refer to them, but to far flung corners of the country in what are second and third tier cities, representing new markets — the Holy Grail as far as some of the world’s biggest fast moving consumer goods companies are concerned.
• Just today, I read a tweet from someone I follow on Twitter about how the Indian Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council has forecast GDP growth at 8.5 percent this year and nine percent next year. Now, compare that with all the talk of Britain having avoided a double dip recession as a result of the growth in our economy at a measly 1.1 percent.
Second time lucky for Biocon’s Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw
Setting up Biocon, Asia’s largest biotechnology firm, was not a straightforward task for the woman who is now India’s wealthiest businesswoman.
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw chose the biotechnology sector as a fallback position after she realised at the age of 25 that India was not ready to accept a woman master brewer.
But abandoning her dream career of following in her father’s footsteps did not mean she swept to success without any trouble.
“In 1978, there were very, very few women in the business world in India — we were considered very high risk from a financial security point of view,” she told Reuters during an interview in London.
“It took a very long time to build the organization and company,” the chairman and managing director of Biocon explained. “I had to face very many hurdles along the way.”
Mazumdar-Shaw’s father had been chief master brewer and managing director of United Breweries in India, and he encouraged her to supplement a degree she earned from Bangalore University with master brewer qualifications from Ballarat Institute of Advanced Education, now University of Ballarat in Australia.
The discrimination she faced when she tried to work in the field in India led her to transfer her skills in fermentation science to producing enzymes, and she set up a joint venture in 1978 with an Irish biotech firm in a small garage in Bangalore with an investment of $250.
Biocon ‘s movement from an enzyme firm to a bio pharma company is a quantum leap, I guess the future lies in bio pharma, now that biocon is on a different traction, i was wondering how will biocon fuel its innovation growth in terms of capital requirements
Vikas Pota on ten business icons in India
Amid jitters about uncertainty in the financial markets over the past 16 months, many investors have continued to look toward the BRIC countries — Brazil, Russia, India and China, which by 2050 are expected to be wealthier than most current major economic powers.
In all four countries, GDP has more than doubled since 1998, and in China and India it has trebled.
The Confederation of Indian Industry, a non-profit non-governmental, industry-led organisation, estimates India’s GDP growth rate at 6.1 per cent in 2009-10.
With those facts in mind, Vikas Pota, managing director of public affairs firm Saffron Chase, wrote “India Inc.”, a book about 10 global success stories he parallels with such powerful businessmen as Microsoft’s Bill Gates, News Corp’s Rupert Murdoch and Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett.
“The fact that the domestic Indian market is growing proves to be a major boon and safety net for Indian companies like Tata, who face the severe consequences of the slowdown in other parts of the world while their home market sees expansion,” Pota writes.
Among his subjects are key players in such firms as ICICI Bank, Biocon, Eros International, Infosys Technologies, Bharat Forge, HCL Technologies and Tata Consultancy Services.
“I included questions on their early days, their perspectives on what it takes to succeed, whether their Indian heritage played any role in their thinking or business achievements, and how those who lead family-owned businesses, members of what has been termed the ‘lucky sperm club,’ view their successes in years to come,” Pota explained to Reuters at his book launch in London.
I am so glad to know that my country is growing so fast and at such astounding speed. But please do not overlook our poor people. Please provide enough for them. Thanks
