:: India Inc ::

“We reap what we sow. We are the makers of our own fate.
The wind is blowing; those vessels whose sails are unfurled catch it,
and go forward on their way,
but those which have their sails furled do not catch the wind.
Is that the fault of the wind?...We make our own destiny”

- Swami Vivekananda

A nation is built not by the wealth it has, but by the blood and sweat of its people. And in case of India, nothing could be closer to the truth than the hard work, toil and indomitable spirit of its teeming millions. From a toiling farmer in a village to a dabbawallah in a metro, to our very own CEOs and entrepreneurs – all have contributed their blood and sweat in making India — a land of unprecedented growth and opportunities. They are the people who are India’s real wealth creators and are bringing back the glory and the pride, of which India was once famous.

The democratic India, which has heralded an era of economic emancipation, is attempting to position itself in league with world’s most powerful nations, sans some corrections it needs to quickly do in the critical areas of infrastructure development, human development and attributes that mar India’s credibility in the global marketplace - issues like corruption, red tapism, archaic labor laws, the chasm between the haves and the have-nots, the gnawing disparities, et al. It now finally seems India is poised for reasonable progress, and this, with a certainty and confidence, which rarely comes in a nation’s history. But, it comes with a caveat. The nation cant ignore addressing the plight of the common man. It has to do something revolutionary, something out-of-the-box to truly steer the hundreds of miilion impoverished, who are by no means, part of India- growth-story. The growth has to be inclusive. It has to be all-encompassing.

As the champions of India Inc best know, India, though, has a fairly promising turf carved out for itself, yet, actually has a long long way to go. The hype and hoopla notwithstanding, the fact remains that the landmarks achieved by our India Inc captains during the last some time, are actually more suggestive of the huge potentials than the poise. All those entrepreneurs who have made news through smart market penetration or acquisitions overseas, or those who have with panache, withstood international competition, deserve all kudos for the niche they have carved, for, they have done it despite all the handicaps they have had to nurse in a difficult working environment of India. No matter, post-1991 things are much improved for them though, yet, for the beleagured nation ranked 126 in Human Development Index, and not any better across various indicators that constitute the WEF’s Global Competitive Index - to cite a few: Quality of Electricity Supply, Rank 97; Overall Infrastructure Quality, Rank 69; Number of Procedures to Start Business, Rank 70; Time Required to Start a Business, Rank 97; Burden of Government Compliance, Rank 67; Government Deficit, Rank 122; Cooperation in Labor-Employer Relations, Rank 49 - the genius of our entrepreneurs come to the fore. For, they have driven India’s growth almost in isolation.

Salutes to our industry captains - the list is long: Ratan Tata, N R Narayanamurthy, Rahul Bajaj, Mukesh and Anil Ambani, Kumaramangalam Birla, Y C Deveshwar, Ananad Mahindra, K V Kamath, Sunil Mittal and all the growth engines, on each of whom reams and reams could be written in admiration.

Our India Inc captains have beyond question demonstrated that they are no less than their counterparts anywhere in the world. Given a level playing field, they would carve a facile place at the summit. Their strength does not restrict in the sharp business acumen, but, extends much beyond – in their class as human beings. Take Ratan Tata, as a popular leader of India Inc, for example. It is not sheer nostalgia, but, a more proud fact than that of an Indian buying over the largest steel company in the UK. Very few global industry leaders would match the grace, humility and panache that Ratan Tata embodied and epitomized and always does. You should ask the British media and they will tell you how high they would rate Tata in terms of all the attributes that makes one more than a winning entrepreneur. We at India-Inc.in, would have watched a recorded version of his interview a dozen times over, to catch the lingua, the grace, the self-assuming persona, the class of a human being that you seldom find. For him humility precedes pride.

The emergence of India is evident from the leap that India’s super rich are emblazoned on the pages of Forbes magazine and its famed billionaire annual. The list has figures in global rank, name and net worth in billion Dollars, respectively —5, Lakshmi Mittal, 32; 14, Mukesh Ambani, 20.1; 18, Anil Ambani, 18.2; 21 Azim Premji, 17.1; 62, Kushal Pal Singh, 10; 69, Sunil Mittal, 9.5; 86, Kumar Birla, 8; 86, Shashi & Ravi Ruia, 8; 114, Ramesh Chandra, 6.4; 137, Pallonji Mistry, 5.6; 210, Adi Godrej, 4.1; 214, Shiv Nadar, 4; 279, Dilip Shanghvi, 3.1; 287, Cyrus Poonawalla, 3; 287, Indu Jain, 3; 349, Kalanithi Maran, 2.6; 349, Grandhi Rao, 2.6; 390, Savitri Jindal, 2.4; 390, Tulsi Tanti, 2.4; 407, Subhash Chandra, 2.3; 432, Uday Kotak, 2.2; 458, Baba Kalyani, 2.1; 488, Malvinder & Shivinder Singh, 2; 557, N. R. Narayanamurthy, 1.8; 618, Anurag Dikshit, 1.6; 618, Venugopal Dhoot, 1.6; 664, Vijay Mallya, 1.5; 664, Jaiprakash Gaur,1.5; 717, Vikas Oberoi, 1.4; 754, Nandan Nilekani, 1.3; 799, Senapathy Gopalakrishnan, 1.2; 840, Pradeep Jain, 1.1; 840, Keshub Mahindra, 1.1; 840, Rahul Bajaj, 1.1

With the Forbes list for 2007 it is evident that India has ended Japan's 20-year reign as home to Asia's largest number of the richest people. India has 36, worth a total of $191 billion, followed by Japan with 24, worth a combined $64 billion. This year as many as 14 Indians have joined the coveted club raising the net worth of the country's billionaires by around $90 billion. The number of billionaires is 19 per cent higher than last year when there were 793, and their total net worth grew 35 per cent to $3.5 trillion.

As always, Forbes identified ingenuity, not industry, as the common characteristic of the billionaires. They made money in everything from media and real estate to coffee, dumplings and ethanol. Of list members' fortunes, 60% made their money from scratch. According to the Forbes list of billionaires, five Indians from the real estate sector with a combined wealth of $24.5 billion figure in the coveted list this year. These include Kushal Pal Singh of DLF, Ramesh Chandra of Unitech, Pallonji Mistry of Shapoorji Pallonji Group, Vikas Oberoi of Oberoi Construction and Pradeep Jain of Parsvnath Developers. Similarly, five Indians from the infotech/software sector are present on the Forbes list, which has ranked 946 billionaires from across the world. These include Azim Premji of Wipro, Shiv Nadar of HCL and three from Infosys — N.R. Narayana Murthy, Nandan Nilekani and Senapathy Gopalakrishnan. The combined wealth of these five from the IT sector stood at $25.4 billion, driven mainly by Azim Premji's personal wealth of $17.1 billion.

Meanwhile, the India growth story was very apparent on the Forbes compilation of global billionaires. By sheer numbers, Indians topped the list of richest people in Asia with 36 billionaires, of whom Forbes placed Lakshmi Mittal, Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani in the elite global top 20. The combined wealth of Indian billionaires, including familiar names such as Azim Premji, K.P. Singh, Sunil Mittal, and Adi Godrej, swelled to $191 billion — equal to one-fourth of India's GDP.

Mukesh and Anil Ambani breached the top 20 richest list with a net worth of $20.1 billion and $18.2 billion respectively. India now has three billionaires in the Top 20, second only to the US with four. Sweden, France and Germany have two billionaires each in the Top 20.

Besides individual Indians who are shining on the latest Forbes list based on their personal achievements, there many Indian companies, that have done India proud in the global arena. These companies are representing India in this coveted list of top 2000 corporate titans across the world.

Another feather in India’s cap is the fact that India now has over a 100 companies with individual market capitalisation of over $ 1 billion, a landmark not many emerging markets can boast of. It reflects the depth and width of the domestic capital market and shows that it is no longer dominated by a handful of companies.

The new face of India as a self-reliant and proud nation is emerging. India’s entrepreneurs have proved that, given the opportunity, they are second to none in the world. Ratan Tata’s recent acquisition of Corus and Kumaramangalam Birla’s acquisition of Novelis have indeed made India proud. People like L. N. Mittal, who initially could not make it big enough back home, succeeded hugely on the global turf and today, is the world’s fifth wealthiest man, the wealthiest in the UK and, for that matter, in the entire Europe. He was sometime back in news for his 22 billion USD takeover-bid of Arcelor, which would help the Group scale 69 billion USD in sales, 12.6 billion USD in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), 40 billion USD in market cap, and a hefty 10% in global market share, which would be three times the size of the world’s next big in steel, Nippon, at a steely 115 million tonnes, as the numero uno! Wipro is probably the only company in the world that has both PCMM-5 and CMM-5 certifications. Azim Premji, the man behind Wipro, is more focused on philanthropy rather than his wealth that makes him the 25th wealthiest man in the world and the richest Indian, with a net worth of 13.5 billion dollars. Their story, more than anything else, is a testimony that an Indian entrepreneur is second to none in the world and it is only the erstwhile denial (which, somehow, post-liberalization in 1991, is thankfully waning) of the level playing field vis-à-vis what is available to their counterparts in developed countries. They are in their infancy of a march towards realizing their mega-potentials and more than catching up with the world. We should not be surprised when 20 years down the line there are 50 Indian companies in the Fortune list. And why not when our entrepreneurs and our rich crop of brilliant professional CEOs are world class. Their hard work, aggressive marketing and strategic moves have made them world leaders in their respective domains.

But most importantly, it has been our men’s insatiable hunger to see India on the top, which has propelled it to the limelight. It was not long back when, at the World Economic forum Meet at Davos, Indian CEOs teamed up to launch a successful campaign ‘India Everywhere’. It was their fondness of the country, a tribute, an acknowledgment to the land, which is now moving towards being a major global economic power.

Robert Blackwill, former US ambassador to India, said, "As a nation you have great DNA. This advantage will have a multiplier effect on the economy when second generation policy reforms present businesses and consumers with the right incentives. There is so much pent-up dynamism at the micro level of India's economy that entrepreneurs and workers will amplify the benefits of these reforms." And, rightly so. India has everything going with it to make its presence felt on the global turf. It is the world’s largest democracy; the second largest market in the world with a large part of its populace yet to be brought into the organized market domain. It has a huge skilled human capital, a widespread knowledge of English language, a dynamic private sector, a strong banking sector, a healthy macro-economic poise with vibrant institutions of a free market economy. Besides, India has a broad and diversified science and technology infrastructure with global niches in IT.

Our corporate captains are exemplary paradigms of what you may call as ‘growth engines’. From N. R. Narayanamurthy to Ratan Tata; from K. V. Kamath to Y. C. Deveshwar, we have the most genius of minds spearheading an ‘India-emergence’ drive.

Our vast diaspora has made it big in the world, too — be it in the US, in the UK or elsewhere, Indians are amongst the most successful business expatriates. India’s acumen in entrepreneurship though has been recognized globally for centuries, has been enjoying the prominent spotlight in the more recent decades. Until about the 18th century, a sizeable portion of the global business was done here, though we have progressively been losing the pride of place, the fact is that India still has the potential not just to catch up on the lost time but also beyond it. India is already making a stand and making a statement to the world that we could always catch up when we desired!

Our entrepreneurs have made the best of corporate minds and stand shoulder to shoulder with the finest breed in the world. They are the living legends. They are not just industrialists but they are also men with a mission – to do good to society. They don't crave for material; they crave for nation's pride. They are ever restless about improving the socio-economic poise of India and its people by creating employment and economic opportunities. It was manifestation of the same pride, that post-Tsunami; India loud and clear told the world it doesn’t need any foreign aid to nurse the catastrophe. Its own India Inc was the first to respond, with compassion and valor. And support poured in a substantial measure from all industry leaders — spontaneously and unsolicited.

Ignorance might be bliss, but the same cannot be said of prejudice. In fact, it’s erroneous on the part of many of us to nurse the notion that "….the business community is solely engaged in money-making, and that they are not as responsible towards the society…” Well, we must collectively rectify this ill-perceived belief. No doubt, there could be exceptions, but it is very sad to be led by such presumptions. This, also probably, explains the lack of encouragement to our entrepreneurs and the subsequent setback to social welfare, of which they are the engines. Contrarily, if only, we at large were liberal with our views about them, then, that could reflect, as a natural reciprocation, in their contribution to the society. In today's world, where economics leads politics, business leaders can play a bigger role, both in terms of growth and social emancipation.

In the past and the present, our entrepreneurs have made the best of corporate minds and most certainly compare with the best in the world. In today’s world, where economics leads politics, business leaders play a big role in the development of the nation both in terms of growth as well as social emancipation. Our salutes to the legends, of the past and present, for beating down a path for the future to follow. The living legends are, in fact, the true leaders of the nation for it is they who are working against all odds to catapult India’s fortunes, selflessly. They are not just industrialists; they are philanthropists in the truest sense. They do not crave for material; they crave for nation’s pride; for restoring India’s rightful crown. They are restless about improving the socio-economic poise of each citizen of India by creating employment and economic opportunities. Post-Tsunami, they were the reason for our Prime Minister to proudly suggest to the world that India did not need any foreign aid to nurse the catastrophe as its own India Inc were there standing valiantly. Support poured in a substantial measure from all our industry leaders.

Truly, our business visionaries deserve a far greater appreciation and respect than we have accorded to them. We have the likes of N. R. Narayanamurthy, who first dreams for the welfare of his colleagues whom he has made millionaires, and prefers himself to travel economy class. Each word that he says reflects his concern and sense of responsibility towards society at large. Starting with a mere Rs 10,000 in the 1980s, reportedly borrowed from his wife, Narayanamurthy went on to create Infosys, a company with the largest "EV" (Enterprise Value) at the Nasdaq! The Forbes, not surprisingly, voted him as one of the most respected global business leaders. Similarly, we have Ratan Tata, who heads India's all-time largest group, but his humility still does not fail to touch hearts. During his stewardship, the group has achieved exponential growth. He is another very highly respected business leader. Talk of Mukesh Ambani, and we have a mind that is capable of implementing the toughest ideas into action. He has been credited with extra-ordinary pace of executing world-class projects. That's not all. He is a hands-on manager and a visionary too.

Another business tycoon, Kumaramangalam Birla, fondly called KM, is the flag-bearer of the Birla legacy. Known for his decency and sobriety, he was one of the youngest business scions to be thrust with the responsibility of heading a corporate empire — of the size of Aditya Birla group. KM is ultra dynamic in taking quick business decisions, yet, ultra-conventional in as far as perpetuating the disciplined legacy goes. There is yet another star that made a meteoric rise in the Indian business sky.

Sunil Mittal, in a span of 15 years, made it from almost scratch to a few billion dollars in market capital. A couple of years ago, when cash-rich Reliance announced astronomically nose-dived call rates, he had the audacity to stand up to the challenge, duly sending out signals that he would not remain as a mute spectator. And not only did Sunil Mittal fight, he proved to be the most qualitative service provider duly keeping the numbers at the zenith — Reliance or no-Reliance. India owes a revolution of sorts to Sunil. A revolution that the world talks about! Yes, Telecom, led by Sunil, has been a critical growth-engine for India, as this has showcased to the world the huge potentials India beholds across the spectrum. Another revolutionary in India Inc has been K. V. Kamath, who has re-written the banking rules in India, punctuated with a high degree of technology, innovation and convenience. Never could India dream of a banking regime as facile as what Kamath has accorded. India Inc has a host of world-class leaders each of whom, in one's own right, tells a tale of unconquerable will-power.

There is yet another feather in India Inc cap — Y. C. Deveshwar, a man, who has had the vision and courage to encompass the entire Indian populace in his economic emancipation drive. From E-chaupal to socio-forestry initiatives, his contribution has had a far-reaching impact on Indian society. As a result of his tireless efforts, there has been tremendous boom in employment creation. He has also played a seminal role in the import-substitution of raw materials for forest based industry like paper. With a phenomenon called Y. C. Deveshwar, you will have to wait for some time while he single-handedly causes to transform the 20% wasteland into meaningful agro-forestry units and bring prosperity through employment and huge amount of produces to the society. But, the day is not far when he will really dazzle the world through his achievements. And, that is not a small task, for those who can understand the impact, which is not just national, but which transcends boundaries. A visionary, Deveshwar touches millions of lives everyday.

In fact, each of India’s entrepreneurs is brilliant and full of promise. They desire to bring prosperity to the society. They crave for justice, and not for material ends. They contribute though so many ways fuelled by a common desire to bring prosperity to the society. The craving for justice, and not for material ends, looms large in their hearts. They are India’s modern-day heroes, brilliant and full of promise, whose names have been etched in golden letters: Azim Premji, Rahul Bajaj, Anand Mahindra, Manvinder and Shivinder Singh of Ranbaxy, S. Ramadorai, Ajay Piramal, Suresh Krishna, K. Nityananad Reddy, Baba Kalyani, Arun Jain, Habil Khorakiwala, Shyam Bhartia, D. Ramalinga Raju, Shiv Nadar, Brijmohanlal Munjal, Jindal and Ruia brothers, Nandan Nilekani, Baba Kalyani, Dr. K. Anji Reddy, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Dilip Sanghvi, P. V. Ramaprasad Reddy, Rajesh Hukku, Jerry Rao, Narottam Seksaria, Venugopal Dhoot, and world-class professionals like Vivek Paul, M. S. Banga, Subir Raha, Aditya Puri, Ravi Uppal, Naresh Chandra Gupta, Arun Sarin, Sanjiv Gupta, K. S. Vishwanathan, Sanjeev Sharma, Sanjay Nayar, Ketan Sampat, Rana Talwar, Deepak Puri, Ravi Venkatesan, Bhaskar Pramanik, Shekhar Dasgupta, Kewal Handa, Ravinder Zutshi and so on. The actual list is endless.

In order to appreciate India Inc's stride into the global growth arena, we need to take a walk down the memory lane. After independence we have necessarily been a socialist, or a mixed kind of economy, that did not allow India Inc a natural liberal drive. It was quite a closed, conservative and restrictive regime. An application for a few hundred dollars for a traveling entrepreneur, bit dust for weeks! The world would scoff at the very idea of India staking a claim to being a global market player; leave alone the question of asserting supremacy. The regime in India was dubbed "License Raj". Exponential growth was the privilege of only a select few houses. Product innovation was only far between, and in most of the capital product domains, there was a virtual monopolistic poise for a few chosen players.

But, come 1991, things began to change. Just as Victor Hugo said and our own Dr. Manmohan Singh famously quotes, “nobody can stop the idea whose time has come”. India was the ‘idea’, and the time had come. Dr. Singh himself became the harbinger of this ‘idea.’ He had taken over the reigns when the Indian economy was undergoing its worst crisis and when India did not have convertible currency for even a month’s imports, Dr. Singh authored, what went on to become a landmark and irreversible reform story for India. One that was totally out-of-the-box in that time’s context. India unleashed a host of initiatives one by one and truly entered the era of globalization. Nations like Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, China had long before us caught the bandwagon. And we, albeit late, eventually attained the satisfaction of finally being there, rather than never being there! In fact, most corporations that came to India with a unanimous reason of low cost have now stayed in for quality. The journey thereafter has been steady for the nascent India Inc. And as Jack Welch says, “Willingness to change is a strength.”

This change ushered in a paradigm shift in the way India has been doing business. Pre-1991 we could not boast of a couple of Indian brands that had established a certain degree of cognizance in the global marketplace, but, post-1991 there has been a steady deluge of such brands. Most importantly, much more is waiting to happen. It is the potentials to bet on, and not the poise.

In the whole gambit, the IT industry proved to be the dynamo, or should we call it the growth engine, that led India into the league. Infosys, Wipro, TCS and Satyam were the flag bearers. This evoked a comment from Yasukuni Enoki, Japanese Ambassador to India, who correctly said "India on its way to becoming IT, manufacturing kingdom of the world." Infosys, led by the legendary N. R. Narayanmurthy, became the first proud scrip listed on the Nasdaq, which was earlier considered a dream. Shortly thereafter, others followed. Today, India's major exports come from this domain and it is considered one of the stronger nations in the knowledge arena with a good number of English-speaking professionals. The ITES/BPO sector, too, has developed a strong potential for India, registering a growth of 30% or more per annum.

To quote Ramalinga Raju, “By 2020, the world GDP may exceed $50 trillion (Rs 22,00,00,000 crore) with more than $35 trillion (Rs 15,40,00,000 crore) coming from services. If India grabs 3% of this global services pie, touching a trillion dollars in this segment is a potential reality. Interestingly, if India continues to grow at about 31% in exports of IT and BPO, that in itself would yield a trillion dollars for the country by the year 2020. The knowledge industry creates opportunities for the new entrepreneur in ways that are far removed from traditional operations.”

While the above is an organic projection, the exponential growth to come about from the plunge India is going to take into the knowledge arena with millions of science students emerging in the future, is too good to believe.

As it often happens in business, the IT industry proved a growth engine for other potential domains to flourish in the global arena. Knowledge-based Pharma and Bio-Tech came in as the next best bet, wherein Ranbaxy, Wockhardt, Dr. Reddy's, Biocon, Nicholas Piramal, Sun Pharma, Aurobindo Pharma and the likes took on the world. As a result, Jubilant Organosys in the chemicals arena, Bharat Forge and Sundaram Fasteners in the auto components domain, Moser Baer in electronics, Ambuja in cement, Videocon in white goods and Essel Propack in flexible tubes received a rare recognition, which was hitherto missing.

If India has come a long way, it is equally true that it has yet to travel a long way. India Inc when compared to its potentials is actually at a very nascent stage. We could have achieved much more, had we opened up our economy well before 1991. As a young economy, nevertheless, India is doing reasonably well. Our strength lies not in the size but in our huge untapped potentials. Otherwise, an economy of a nation having a population of a billion plus, could not be a mere 700 billion USD, which is lower than the asset value of several banks, or for that matter, much lesser than the combined market cap of 3 companies, namely, GE, Exxon and Microsoft!

This cautiously suggests there is no room for us to be complacent. For, what we have as an enormous asset, is, the huge 'potential' in store. We are at a take-off point, and have a huge opportunity ahead of us. We are world's one of the largest in-house markets, and that too, largely unexplored. To gauge the potential, say if on a scale of 100, the US, UK, Japan or Germany have attained a market harnessing of between 90 and 95 points, the same in India, may be as low as 20 points. But the stage suggests the 'potentials' - or, may be an 'opportunity' which other nations are no longer privileged.

The same applies for development, and all that goes with it. Not only the growth of GDP, but, also the growth of market in the developed countries today, is pretty low, hovering around 1%, and in many cases, even a zero growth, as against the tremendous growth across the wide spectrum in India. This despite the fact we are yet to activate the tools that can unleash India’s market potential. In some of the areas like Telecom, our consecutive annual growth for the last few years has been more than 30%!

When we talk about the geographical vastness of Indian market- 87 per cent of our 637000 villages have population clusters of less than 2000, which do not render it feasible for the FMCG companies to market products. This, in effect, implies that a large size of our population is still unexposed to manufactured products as basic as detergent and toothpaste. What to talk of white goods! Only India can help itself stay put where it stands today. Otherwise, it is steadily poised to make an exponential growth. When the entire developed world is reporting near-zero growth, India is all set to take off, with a strong 1 billion population, out of whom about 600 million are yet to be introduced to organized products. Broadly speaking, about 700-million markets, today lies untapped. This available size is larger than the entire Europe! Now, imagine the potential that holds for the India Inc who have a whole lot of products to offer to the larger India, hitherto, only very marginally catered.

Prof C. K. Prahlad's “Bottom-of-the-Pyramid” theory has all reasons for serious reckoning. If only our people could be empowered through articulation of measures and mechanisms, India promises to be one of the most exciting opportunities for the “Global Inc” in a scenario of diminishing market sizes and lost economies of scale worldwide, barring countries like China, or may be, in Taiwan and Malaysia, in some measure. Economics and populism are two mutually exclusive and universally exhaustive phenomenons and both are two extreme ends. In India, we need to evolve an equilibrium between the two, duly adding several other attributes in order to make a package that can address emancipation. Once emancipation will have to come on the market orientation, and there is no need to dole out booties as that is done today with an utterly poor delivery regime. If various agencies put together could evolve an empowerment initiative wherein all households are accorded the minimum basic needs for a decent living accompanied by educational empowerment, against the premise that once they are empowered (say, if you take a time span of 20 years), they shall pay a part of their incomes as repayment installment for a few years till the principal amount and a nominal interest amount thereon, gets paid off.

Further, there could be an insurance model wherein, after 15 years of implementing this measure of emancipation, if an educated does not get a job, then, there has to be a reimbursement/compensation so that the agencies which have funded the emancipation initiative are not subjected to any recovery risk. And, again, one would like to say, that 15-20 years hence, with such envision in place, there will be so much of trickle-down and multiplier-effect.

We have to bring in a proper social security system and revamp the delivery system that does not allow even 15% of assistances to reach out to those for whom those are meant. This can be done by simple, transparent, kind of automatic provisions that eradicates any catches and ambiguity, which are taken advantage of by the privileged ones, including intermediaries. At the same time, we have to ensure that the package is available to all the households below a certain economic level. Then there would be no need for reservations as the benefits not will be across the spectrum. To simplify the matter, there could be a smart card for every household instead of a ration card, which could also serve as an identity card, and an all-purpose document for administrative and revenue purposes. Any department official could have details that are needed, e.g., the amount of facilities received, the number of members in the household, their respective ages, address, educational qualifications, details of land/property owned etc.

Time is of great essence. The development we boast of today is still at a deplorable pace. Considering the way we are moving, we will not reach as far as we visualize as it will only amount to one step forward and 2 steps backward. Our 9% GDP Growth, for example, is neutralized by inflation of about 6.7% and an increasing population of about 1.8%, barely leaving a net growth. India stands at 126th place in the Human Development Index. Our Per Capita Income of even 750 USD is a misnomer. In essence, the PCI of more than 300 million people is a measly 100 USD or less, whereas in most of the developed countries, it is in the vicinity of 30,000 USD. About 45% of our children are malnourished. Our infant mortality is above 2.0 million. In fact, all the socio-economic indicators suggest a sorry state of affair. The definition of BPL in our country is again shocking. Only those earning less than Rs 10 per day are considered as BPL populace. If this is the definition, then, imagine the actual number of people living in an utter impoverished state. Time is of great essence. The development we boast of today is still at a deplorable pace. Considering the way we are moving, we will not reach as far as we visualize as it will only amount to one step forward and 2 steps backward. Our 8% of GDP Growth, for example, is good enough to take care of our inflation of about 4.5% and an increasing population of about 2%, but it barely leaves a meaningful growth impact.

Today, we are not addressing issues which are predictable and helpable. Mortality, for example, is absolutely predictable and helpable, but we are allowing it to happen. What does a marginal Indian household need to be able to live in hygienic conditions and eat healthy, nutritious food, educate the children properly, provide for healthcare, and have a social security? Well, just about a dollar a day per capita, which is half the amount available as subsidy in the OECD countries per head of cattle? And, if we can’t help facilitate even that little sum, we will stand nowhere in the new world order.

But there is always hope at the end of a tunnel. It can very well be helped with some planning. Basically, it is about providing and enabling for a certain time span — say, 20 years, by when a family gets empowered, as the children by then, would complete their education, and would be able to offer themselves for employment. In parallel, the state as well as the responsive society comprising the corporate sector, the social sector (the NGOs), the intelligentsia and media should work on to ensure that when all Indian children are moving towards an educated tomorrow, there have to be the right work opportunities available for them. It should not be a big deal in this era of globalisation wherein opportunities are not decided by favours, but, by merit. The fact is that not being able to help the impoverished get empowered, is not only a failure of compassion in us, but, it is also a bad business sense, as the costs are much lesser than the potential output.

It is interesting to mention here, a scenario wherein two members of a family work as data entry operators in a BPO working out of a village in Tamil Nadu, earning Rs 8,000 a month each. Now, imagine the amount of earning potential that any family holds once that minimum education is available! It is surprising to note that the most marginalized families also do not require a fortune to transform their plight. Let us look at a typical capital/revenue cost of nursing the needs of a marginal family, say, of 5 members. Once these are provided, the family is indeed empowered as the children attain education and gain employment.

1) Education for 3: @ Rs 200/month, Rs 7200/annum

2) Healthcare for all: Could be covered vide a health insurance model. Premium, say, @ Rs 250/ person. i.e, Rs 1250/annum

3) Shelter: 300 sft dwelling @ Rs 75,000/ (This could be facilitated with a long-gestation, low-interest loan)

4) Computer & Television etc: Rs 15000/

One compulsory employment in the organised sector (failing which, a decent allowance should be made available) that would take care of the expenses of food, clothing, education, healthcare, housing and basic needs.

If the above are sectorally divided on a market-oriented repayment model, then it does not remain a gigantic task with any given agency. The main initiative that is envisaged in their emancipation drive, is, the reasonable amount of gestation needed to be allowed, where, let the costs be added. For example, as above, the housing unit would mean a 20-year onward repayment scheme with some reasonable interest therein, which will not be a burden, as the rate of inflation is actually higher than the international interest rate. This suggests that from the angle of the NPV, as well, it will be conducive for the addressee. Similarly, education could be encouraged and quickly brought up as an industry. Companies like TCS have developed brilliant educational software, available for as low as Rs 200 for our teeming millions.

There could be different models contemplated. For example, if a given industry does not find it attractive to provide a deferred payment model directly, in that case, there could be an interface coming in, in the form of a financing outfit. This could take care of the job of providing that bridge. Mind you, the Grameen Bank model in Bangladesh has proven to the world that bad debts even in a poor country as Bangladesh, is well within controllable limits even if you are financing without any collateral, which is the case here. You will be surprised that Grameen Bank's Bad Debts or NPA, is not even 1%! So, nothing should stop us from placing our whole-hearted trust in the families whom we must take out from the morass of poverty and misery.

Coming to healthcare, if all Indians are insured with a premium of Rs. 250, the total sum would be somewhere around Rs. 25,000 crores. Can't we provide compulsory healthcare to all at this sum duly discounting the trade margins of the insurer here? Similarly, computers and television medium are necessary for every household primarily for educational delivery. Each household must be provided with these tools in a country which after 20 years will be the den of knowledge economy in the world. This capital cost again could be financed by the industry or the financing agency. Imagine the kind of market size available against the initiative.

Ideally, one organized sector employment must be provided to each household, and till that time, that is available, some sort of a compensatory allowance is required to be made available. There are several avenues that have the potentials to bring a spurt in employment opportunities. This can be achieved through initiatives like inviting global corporations to avail the LCC (Low Cost Country) advantage in manufacturing; the huge knowledge related activities including IT/ITES; the huge infrastructure augmentation in areas of power, roads and highways, airports, ports, inter-linking of rivers and creating of waterways as an extremely cost-efficient measure for transportation; opportunities in the food processing area (which we will discuss with respect to global corporations leveraging Indian manufacturing cost-efficient for their global brand-driven markets). Besides, as we delve into the issue of providing small, but decent housing to all marginal families, there would be a tremendous spurt in the construction industry as well as the building material industry.

Our initiative is not just to acknowledge the people who are in the limelight, but to recognize those who have made achievements and those who are on their path to success. Our welcoming note to the achievers who believe that progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be.

Hence, Icon Publications is a portal encompassing sites that are dedicated to individuals from various arenas, all towards communicating to the world that these icons deserve to be saluted for all they have rendered to the global society with commitment, integrity and hard work. Our endeavor has been to strive to achieve something close to comprehension across the spectrum. The captains of India Inc need to reach out to the world and announce loud and clear that India is no more a 'snake-charmer's country, nor is it one resplendent with high degree of corruption, or red-tapism, or for that matter a burgeoning bureaucracy. And neither is India, as perceived, a nation weak on Government policies. From beckoning FDIs to evolving JVs to leveraging India's market strengths to harnessing India's HR potentials, they should lead it all.