Indians succeed at home just as well as they do abroad !!

Yesterday I once again received a chain email which has been making the rounds for the last seven years or longer, about how well Indians do overseas. It mentioned about Rajat Gupta(ex-Mckinsey) Victor Menezes( ex-Citibank) Rana Talwar(ex-Citi,ex-Standard Chartered ) and so on. I think it was originally written by a journalist and has been picked up and circulated since then. The point being made was that Indians only succeeded when they are out of India and freed of restraints, they suddenly blossom.I am sure the latest version will probably include Nikki Haley and Bobby Jindal, who are Americans of Indian parentage, but as a friend in marketing once said " why let facts spoil a good story ".

Obviously these people have not been visiting India to see the changes which have been happening. If you compare the list of 50 industrialists and the industries they were from ninety sixties to that of now you will find a tremendous change. My guess would be that only 25% (if that) of the names remain the same. The others are new and most of the industries they are new as well. It used to be textiles, tea, some heavy engineering. Now its real estate , software, entertainment, petroleum, telecoms.The majority of these new generations are self made or perhaps second generation like the Amabani's but who contributed to the accumulation of the family wealth.

Yes we all know how difficult it is to operate in India, but these new generation of business men work within the same system and know which buttons to press and which politician and bureaucrat to "lobby" and have succeeded and are now among the richest families in the world. In the past they would have been labeled as beneficiaries of the the License Raj, but this is no longer the case. This new generation is no longer confined to the Indian borders. They are spreading their wings both to the east and west.

Even among professionals who have done well are not just those who remained abroad after completing their studies. A lot of them got their initial boost while still working in India, stood out and were then sent overseas by their employers. These include, Victor and Rana. In addition you have V Shankar and Jaspal Bindra from Standard Chartered, Haresh Manwani and Manvinder Banga of Unilever, Ajay Banga of Master Card and the list goes on and on.

The common complaint about why things in India don't work ( Infrastructure) is because " we are a democracy" does not apply to these people.They have succeeded in spite of us being a democracy.

What these critics fail to understand is that every country goes through a transition. The UK went through it during the late seventeen hundreds and early eighteen hundreds and the United States in the late eighteen hundreds and early nineteen hundreds.Read Charles Dickens and about Tammany Hall politics in New York to find out how rampant corruption was among politicians and the judiciary.

Where I do agree with the critics is that with the flow of information and with the level of education and an active media,the pace of change for the better is way too slow. It should be faster.

Fortunately India is in the sweet spot, which happens not just once in a lifetime but probably once every few centuries. There are so many opportunities to make money that people who are in a hurry will cut corners and seek an easy solution as they did in London and New York. Unfortunately when you are making 100 percent, you don't mind parting with 10-15 percent to move things along faster.I am not condoning it.I am merely stating a fact.

Regardless of what we wish for, I would argue that there is not a single country in the world which is totally free of corruption. Its a matter of degrees and form. One is sometime amazed at the level of petty corruption ( in India we are desensitized to this ) which you see in other countries.Members of Parliament in our former colonial masters have been to known to raise questions on your behalf for a few hundred quid. Also a large number of them have been caught out fudging their expense claims for petty amounts.Yet most of these MP's have gotten off scot free or or a mild rap on the knuckle. Compare that against a corrupt policeman in Bihar or Delhi with a family of five who probably earns a few thousand rupees a month .Who would you sympathize with ?

In the United States significant election campaign donors get rewarded with plum ambassadorial posts or political appointments. Lets not even go into the pork barrel projects in the United States of the Senators and Congressmen which ensure their re-election. Is Mamta Banerjee doing any thing different when she locates projects in West Bengal? Its all about the vote bank honey!!

See http://www.economist.com/node/16380025
If you are unable to access it , read the Economist June 19th-25th, Page 38th, Column " Money from Wall Street "

The only difference between India and other countries is that some of these process are formalized. Also once the wheels are greased you achieve your objectives. In India that might not be the case and might require the equivalent of a couple of " Patiala Pegs" .