by: Priya Nigam
India Stands Tall
Recently, I bought a pen that has a torch at one end. It’s pretty useful you know. And it’s compact and slick. What’s most fascinating about the pen is that it cost me Rs10. Yes, you guessed it… it was made in China. It seems like everything around us is made in China these days, from color pencils to DVD players! Heck, I even bought a souvenir in Australia to find out later that it had “Made in China” etched below it! And I think to myself, “Why is India lagging behind?” Well, guess what. It’s not. In fact, it is way ahead. No, I’m not saying this out of patriotism. Bertelsmann Foundation, a German NGO, is saying this in a recent study.
China may be the world's fastest growing economy, but India is transforming at a more rapid pace and in a more successful manner than its Asian counterpart. The study, called Transformation Index, conducted by Bertelsmann Foundation, has ranked 125 countries on the basis of development, management and market economy. India has ranked 25th in the study, while China is far behind at 85.
India ranked 19 in an evaluation of the management performance of its political decision makers. The government can feel proud not only because this rank compares well with China’s 67, but also because it is an improvement of 13 rankings versus the earlier study conducted a couple of years ago and of 24 rankings versus the investigation five years ago.
While India has become one of the global economic powers, the country would have to seriously pursue economic reforms in order to maintain its current growth rate, the study suggested. The nation’s legal system and underdeveloped infrastructure need to be focus areas for improvement.
Although there is optimism and enthusiasm surrounding India’s future, the stock market has been volatile of late. The Sensex closed Monday with a loss of 67 points at 18,048. The 50-share index had gained around 1,500 points in the last three trading days. While it opened on a positive note, it plummeted to as low as 17,901 in mid-noon trades and recovered subsequently. The loss was mainly due to profit taking. The shares that bore the brunt of the downturn belonged to technology companies (like Satyam, Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys), banking companies (such as State Bank of India, ICICI and HDFC Bank) and other heavyweights (like Reliance Industries and ONGC).
Despite the volatility and the concerns triggered by the state of the US economy, I believe it is still a good idea to bet on India’s future. And the German NGO’s study indicates we are moving in the right direction.
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