Globalization and a Shrunken World

By Dr. Subhrendu Bhattacharya

The book deals with pros and cons of Globalization and its focus extends both to the home and host countries. While Globalization has been beneficial it has not been without challenges for both home and host countries. There are many areas where the host countries, tend to benefit significantly, from Globalization. The interface with the global economy unleashes a lot of positive energy in the economic systems of the affected countries, particualrly in the host country's economy. The book deals with the challenge of immigration, which the developed countries are facing, as an offshoot of inclusiveness that comes with Globalization. Increased debt intensity in some of the developed economies have resulted from their integration with the World economy, which many countries have witnessed since early 1990s. The book also delves into how the phenemenon of Globalization has been leveraged, by some countries more than others. While US has been the leader in unleashing Globalization, India, an effervescent democracy, have gained substantially, from this trend, having significantly developed its professional competencies.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Dec 13, 2011
• ISBN: 9781467835190

Dr. Subhrendu Bhattacharya

Dr. Subhrendu Bhattacharya is a senior bureaucrat appointed by Government of India. Dr. Bhattacharya has been an administrator, policy analyst. He has been associated with economic development for decades, implementing welfare schemes in different areas such as industries, economic liberalization, district development and the like. He has been actively involved with poverty reduction programs of the Government in India ranging from green revolution to modernizing agriculture, augmenting water supply in the rural areas, improving irrigation systems. Other areas of his management expertise include policy making, advising on policy issues, banking and financial planning. His areas of responsibility covered financial planning and implementation of World Bank and bilaterally aided projects, in the areas of irrigation, urban development, water supply, disaster management and technical education, in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India, the capital of which is located in the high tech city of Hyderabad. He has headed a few corporations as Managing Director, with over all responsibilities of efficiently running the corporations, besides maintaining accountability to the Government and legislative bodies of the State and Federal Government, arranging its finances from sources finance including domestic banks and also the multilateral institutions. The corporations during his tenure witnessed the process of economic liberalization, privatization as the Indian economy liberalized in 1993. He maintains academic interfaces with different institutions including Indian Institutes of Management, Administrative Staff College of India, Management Schools of different universities, etc. He holds a Masters Degree in Physics (Electronics), History and Finance, and a Ph.D. in Economics. Dr. Bhattacharya has undertaken research in the areas of International Capital Markets, Credit Markets, Securitization of Debt, International Trade, Protectionism/ Economic Nationalism, Economic development in reference to Washington Consensus, World Trade Organization, Business Ethics, Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Labor Markets and Labor Laws, Business Strategy, Globalization and Economic Liberalization. He has many publications to his credit

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© 2011 by Dr. Subhrendu Bhattacharya, Ph.D. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 10/27/2011

ISBN: 978-1-4678-4908-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4678-3519-0 (ebk)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011919529

Printed in the United States of America

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1

India’s Friendship With Globalization

Chapter 2

India’s Economic Transition

from Control Regime to Liberalization

Chapter 3

Efficiency Gains of Privatization

Chapter 4

Inclusiveness, a Global Phenomenon,

in Modern Times

Chapter 5

Illegal Immigration, a Challenge to

American Way of Life

Chapter 6

World Should be Happy to Emulate American Corporate Bankruptcy Management

Chapter 7

Is Middle Class in America Shrinking?

Chapter 8

Short Term Approach in Economic Moves:

A New Paradigm in American Life

Chapter 9

Global Outsourcing:

Insource CEOs from Abroad

Chapter 10

Debt can be Disastrous, Without a Rein

Chapter 11

Is Debt Good for Housing?

Chapter 12

Informal Capital Markets,

More an Asian Experience

Chapter 13

How to Cope with Global Food Crisis?

Chapter 14

Oil Price Shock, Again in the New Millennium

Chapter 15

Global Scenario of Corporate Governance

Chapter 16

Globalization, A New Paradigm

Bibliography

About the Author

Acknowledgements

I am thankful to many scholars, in the area of globalization, who were nice enough to appreciate me for this project. I am grateful to Prof. Joel Goldhar and Prof. Elieser Geisler of the Stuart School of Business, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, who cared to share their knowledge, on a wide variety of topics, relating to business practices internationally. Dr Mike Miller, formerly Chair and currently Professor of Economics of the Depaul University, Chicago has been another great inspiration, who always had words of encouragement. He shared a lot of his knowledge, on global business with me that helped me in writing of this book. I am grateful to several scholars from India, who encouraged me, in writing this book, including Prof. B. Satyanaryan, former Chair of the Economics Department, of Osmania University, Hyderabad, India. I am also grateful to those who read my chapter drafts and gave their valuable suggestions.

I profusely acknowledge the great contributions of my parents, who always stood by me, in helping me to acquire scholarship, from my childhood to my adulthood and would encourage me always to pursue academic work, in addition to my professional responsibilities of economic development.

My professional experience with economic development in India, opened many areas of my learning. It was heartening to get the insights of how institutions have such an important role, in economic growth and how ethical governance both at the government and business levels could enrich the quality of life of people. Globalization through interface of international financial institutions, are a remarkable way to begin this process before a nation takes initiative to collaborate with multinational firms.

I acknowledge the help and excellent cooperation of Mrs. Bubu Bhattacharya, my wife, who encouraged me to write this book on globalization. At every stage of this preparation of this book, she lent her wonderful encouragement. I also appreciate her sharing with me current thoughts on the topic and sharing her insights. She has been a constant encouragement, while I dedicated myself to completing the book.

My complements and thanks go to Mr. Abhijeet Bhattacharya, our son, who is given to scholarly pursuits and was always excited about my writing the book. He has been my constant reminder, to complete the book not infrequently with a sense of humor.

Chapter 1

India’s Friendship With Globalization

Globalization in India has had both positive and negative effects. However, positive pay off from globalization has been overarching and it weighs heavily, in favor of encouraging the phenomenon of globalization. India’s globalization has also caused a lot of positive pay off, for the home countries and has boosted India’s international image, as a dynamic democratic country with managerial and engineering competencies, besides a nice focus on education and cooperation with other nations.

Boosting of Spirits

Globalization certainly boosted the spirits of happy spirited Indians. In the globalization-interfaced locations, people in general hoped a lot of good is going to happen, with economic liberalization. More money is going to flow with more job openings. More businesses are going to come to the city, bringing prosperity. Those who owned extra properties, other than the ones in which, they were staying felt they could earn higher rents from their properties. Those who had properties, in and around city, awaited galloping of real estate prices, to take advantage and make solid quick bucks. Those who were entrepreneurial and technically skilled thought that a lot of downstream economic opportunities are going to arise, once big foreign firms expand their presence in the city. Media felt high-spirited looking forward, to the surfeit of media stories that could be written with the onset of globalization. Electronic media was equally excited to produce stories. Media industry certainly expected a lot of augmentation of the revenue from advertising by business firms, both foreign and domestic companies. Domestic businesses saw in globalization, an opportunity to collaborate to improve businesses and processes and make more money. Those with admiration, for infrastructure development abroad in OECD economies, felt delighted that some day in future, their city may see better infrastructure, nicer shopping arcades and entertainment centers. Poor people were not without enthusiasm, as they expected their economic conditions, to improve through the trickle effect, especially in a country of solid democracy, not only in policies but also in institutions. Labor unions in companies and street demonstrations, to bring awareness are a way of life in India and this makes poor people, as much a participant in economic development, as anybody else. Economic development is very inclusive of the poor and management in firms too follows an inclusive approach, to labor in all of the State Owned Enterprises and also Public Enterprises, both at the Federal and State levels. Domestic companies too pay attention, to the demands of labor unions, and sit at the negotiating table for compensation and other major business decisions. With that kind of inclusiveness, towards poor, the poor also felt excited about globalization as they expected dividends, from the phenomenon of globalization. Hence globalization created a lot of positive feelings, in Indian cities, where it arrived. Visible prosperity of the OECD economies has much to do with such euphoria, which Indians felt once, the economy liberalized, to welcome foreign firms and foreign investment. But this has to be viewed, with a very strong sense of pride that among Indians carry, in general, about their indigenous competencies to run their own economy.

Could Globalization of India be Faster?

The home countries, which target developing countries and emerging economies sometimes, find it challenging, to convince host economies, to globalize fast and liberalize their economies toward more openness. They take a lot of steps, to understand local cultures local tastes for different categories of products and services through their market research. They also try to make their businesses acclimatize to local conditions with slogans like go global and be local. It will be interesting to analyze how and why these apprehensions, arise in the host economies, to open their economies and invite foreign business interface. The generation that is either ignorant or were not available, when fight to achieve freedom from economic fetters of the colonizers were on, are easy candidates to accept globalization, as against older generations, general masses of older people and also old leaders, who not only witnessed the struggle for freedom but might even have participated in that movement to be free from foreign political power. It is hard for this generation, to believe that all shall be fine, once foreign businesses are deeply entrenched on their national soil. Rhetoric of plusses of globalization do succeed in whittling down, these obstacles partially but it takes a lot of persuasion, at the corporate and business level and of course adherence to business ethics, while economies open up. Few bad apples could damage the process of globalization, in an economy. Enron’s very negative approach in India in the 1980s created a lot of negative publicity about globalization in India. Intelligentsia and media turned very critical at that time of the role of foreign firms across the board.

Slow progress of globalization in India, relative to many other countries in Latin America in Eastern Europe and Africa, can be explained by the enlightenment of Indian masses by nationalist leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi. Mr. Gandhi explained in his mass meetings during India’s freedom movement during 1930s and 1940s, about the nefarious ways political and economic colonization had negative effects for the country. How colonial powers, after acquiring political and economic influence, in conjunction with industrial revolution in their countries, exploited economic scenario in the colonies, including India has been an eye opener for many, who had the advantage of reading and hearing Mahatma Gandhi. He is venerated all over the world, across continents, for his adherence to the principles of Peace, Non Violence, Secularism, Humanity and Truth. He was an inspiration for many nations to de-colonise their countries and achieve political and economic freedom. His admirers included Albert Einstein, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King and host of people and nations, all over the world. He made no bones to speak frankly against economic imperialism. He exhibited his tenacity to demand equal treatment for all races in his movement in South Africa as early as in 1920s. Mahatma Gandhi’s leadership got for India its freedom through the pursuit of peaceful principles of peace and non-violence. By setting a noble example of achieving India’s freedom from the British foreign rule through the pursuit of non-violence, he also indirectly inspired globally, many other national leaders, to fight for their freedom, from foreign control. Mr. Gandhi, in a way, spurred globalization of the concept of setting up national regimes, after seeking freedom from foreign political rulers. In a way, he symbolized globalization of the idea of political and economic freedom, freedom to make political and economic decisions, by national governments.

Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India, for 17 years, elected in consecutive parliamentary elections, in no uncertain terms, reiterated the downsides caused by the policies of East India Company that came to India to do trade and then came to exercise political influence and then political power. Mr. Nehru also criticized British, explaining how British protectionism policies caused a lot of negatives to India’s economy, including non-promotion of Indian manufacturing and overtly acting against Indian manufacturers through adoption of strong protectionist policies against India’s exports, with a view to help British businesses and manufacturing. The slower velocity of globalization, in India and its moderate pace can also be attributed to the focus of nationalization as an offshoot of achieving self sufficiency in economic development that was propagated by leaders like Mrs. Indira Gandhi, who was a strong willed Prime Minister of India in the 1960s and 1970s.

Globalization, despite its numerous positive payoffs today, also partially suffers, from the burden of history of colonization by developed countries, in the past. Apprehension of globalization appears to have slowed the process in many other developing countries, which remember the negatives of political and economic domination of the colonial powers, which bedeviled them, in not so distant past. Some of these countries, which are targeted by the MNCs to day, have achieved freedom from colonization, only about 5 to 6 decades ago. It perhaps explains the challenge that globalization faces, for some more time, until the intention of globalizing developed countries are fully trusted. It is not easy, in the light of the negative experience that a lot of developing countries had with colonization by European colonizing rulers, to convince the host countries that all shall be fine, in future with no repetition of exploitation of colonization type. This is certainly a solid challenge, for multi national corporations, for no direct fault of theirs, due to negatives imposed by colonial regimes, in the past.

However, an attitude of inclusiveness, mutual respect and mutual trust coupled with visibility of economic gains to the host countries, through the process of globalization, has already been happening and that could get over the apprehensions arising from the burden of history. The example of successful countries like India and China that are gaining from this globalization phenomenon may have a salutary effect on other countries, to build institutions and develop professional/educational competencies, to attract globalization. If developed economies also insist to collaborate more, with those countries that build democratic institutions and also run their government, on the lines of democracy, economic prosperity might come, along with democracy, making the payoff from globalization sustainable.

Globalization in India, Triggering a Win Win Scenario

India’s metropolises have also in recent years been seeing the rise of a class, significantly impacted by globalization and they are increasingly getting changed to western ways of dressing, manners, more viewing of Hollywood films and more listening of globally reputed western singers. All of these changes for this new class is pretty helpful for them for further global contacts. It would also broaden their perspectives in life, leading to learning about global issues. If this happens with moderation with due retention of India’s cultural values, it would be fine. Then it will have the positive effect of having a class of people, knowledgeable about world affairs, whose advice could be of value to an economy, when latter consultations on foreign diplomatic matters. They could also be on tap, when policy makers might like to have some inputs, on how to go about managing globalization in future and what aspects are more welcome, given the structure of the Indian economy, without unduly hurting any constituency. This is positive pay off to the host country from globalization.

Nevertheless, those who go a whole hog, to embrace the global practices, dazzled by the snazzy ads, to the exclusion of understanding of local values and culture or try to unlearn local culture and values too fast, add to a negative trend among some cross sections of the young professionals. The downside here might be making some people, so imbued with western culture that they might in due course of time, get distant from the Indian cultural practices and values.

If acclimatization of the locals to global ways of life, happening through the route of globalization, has some positive pay off, India’s rich cultural values and practices also generate indirectly, much positive pay off, for the international community. India’s cultural practices, traditions and values, have so much to offer to the world, in today’s context. Some of these values are globally acknowledged to have a lot of relevance, in today’s fast paced world, especially at a time, when a lot of people globally are seeking peace, to escape the troubled feelings of stress; when family values and family support are turning, too weak, in many parts of the world; when children are missing out a lot of fun in life, as parents are unavailable to them, most of the time in the fast paced economies of the world and when children are heavily challenged as they need to cooperate, with parents, spending on average 11 hours a day, in school/day care every day, from the 15th day infancy to 15th year teenage, in high paced economies, particularly in 2 income families or single parent families, and where loneliness haunts for a whole lot of adults. It is no wonder that lots of wealthy people and people of reasonable means, executives and professionals alike are turning to learning of Yoga, meditation and theories of Karma, all of which have emanated from India and is being practiced in India, since times immemorial.

Globalization is helping many foreigners, businessmen, executives, students who arrive to study Indian culture and industry and those who do their graduate internships with big Indian companies to learn from practices of Indian culture, cuisine, family values, which they are popularizing, in reverse in their own families, friends community and countries. Thus, India’s culture is travelling abroad to the developed economies, which are investing in India. Bill Gates to Thomas Friedman to a host of professionals and scholars have nice things to say about India and they tend to appreciate the rise of India despite economic challenges so much. The rigor of India’s educational system and how students in the small towns and villages tread walking to the school, internalize solid knowledge of science, mathematics, culture social studies, geography and history is globally known and appreciated. Ever increasing inclination to study science and engineering among the young in India and China is a matter of frequent reference in media and intelligentsia debates in America and in the EU. It is reiterated that if America has to maintain its current standard of living, without sliding substantially, the young in America will have to meet forces of intellectual competition, particularly, from these two Asian giants India and China. It is debated in the global media that the need of the hour is to motivate the young in America, not to lose time and to take science and math learning seriously. In science engineering and mathematics, the rigor and also passion is said have declined in the last few decades. America has been at one time, the global leader in science and engineering education and that made USA escalate the heights of scientific knowledge, to be able to land on the moon in 1969. Americans give this glorious example and ask their young, to reclaim that passion for science and engineering, which can keep US always in good stead.

Globalization has also opened, the eyes of people from advanced economies, who manage/supervise the foreign business operations, to rethink and revisit their own country practices. While appreciating the education rigor in India and China, a sense of modesty to identify areas of educational reform has been, on the rise, in the US.

Intelligentsia and media and business leaders, bringing out how plusses in the areas of education in Science, Engineering and Math in India and China could be as models of learning have made observations. If standard of living in America has to remain where it is, without further tobogganing the education needs to be acquired more rigor in Math Science and Engineering. There has been huge competition from abroad in this area, which cannot be dealt with in a complacent manner. Often in the media and on TV talk shows, one comes across debates on how American school landscape and workplace training, needs to adjust to meet the global competitive challenges, particularly from Asia. Lack of focus on science, math and engineering education has become rampant in the US school system. The absence of rigor in these areas of studies in American schools and lack of discipline in many public schools is hurting. This has triggered a serious debate to reform the educational system at school level.

India is experiencing a lot of positivism through the route of globalization. There has been effervescence of enthusiasm all around in the economy, in the industries, in the educational institutions, in the new way of managing, in enveloping new technologies in the areas of internet, communications entertainment and food. Ambition and hope to improve life’s quality is certainly on board. However the positives are happening with people grounded firmly to the roots of indigenous culture and values.

Growth of Entertainment, Food and Retailing Industries

Entertainment became a very important component in people’s lives in India, with influences of globalization. A lot of time is now consumed seeing movies, going to movie theaters, at least once a week. The joy of living a life, filled with entertainment has come to stay, for the young and unmarried. Even the newly weds have a fine way of spending relaxed time. The quality of films and special effects that it carries are very impressive, relative to much simpler movies of the past. The gap between Hollywood and Bollywood films gradually shrunk. Now Indian Bollywood films are more acceptable to international community. Indians settled abroad and those born and raised globally are increasingly attracted to these Bollywood movies. Themes of these films are closer to their life styles. They could identify with many of these films, though raised in the developed world of faster pace. Globalization has pulled people out of the confines of homes to the entertainment places and movie theaters and in a way it has also enabled to enrich the entertainment industry and eatery industry with expansion of economic opportunities and creation of new jobs. These industries have seen sophistication as never before. This has happened in a lot of big cities and even medium sized cities and people are spending more time out of their homes entertaining themselves and eating out on weekends. There has been a significant growth of food courts in commercial neighborhoods.

Life is increasingly veering around, living a life style, where the trend is not to eat at home, during the weekends and instead rely increasingly on food from eateries. Either people are asking for a home delivery of pizza or going out to eat at food courts or exclusive eateries. People are enjoying happy relaxed times, eating out and tapping the food variety, they had never known before. Indian consumers are becoming familiar with Chinese, Mexican, Thai and European food, in addition to of course wide varieties of Indian food. Some consumers may be too impassioned to eat and sometimes overeat and invite not so good health, challenging in the process, themselves, their spouse and children and also their workplaces. Personal irresponsibility in regard to eating is seeing some downside, not very dissimilar to American lifestyle and life style in the EU. Caution here would be, to convey message from government and corporations, to exercise moderation in consumption of food. However, the joy of eating out with family and be a connoisseur of world food variety, cannot be over emphasized. But the moderation in eating needs to be reminded, lest people become prey to it and suffer from obesity, which has become common, in developed countries, more so in America, challenging individuals and economy big time.

Over the last one decade India is also witnessing a fast growth of consumer finance industry. Credit card industry is booming in urban pockets with numerous jobs for salespeople who make money through commissions on the sale of financial instruments. Credit card industry has been supporting this changed life style in globalized locations and other cities by way of emulation. Globalization has also brought about this new industry in place and is also making it more popular among the young professionals. As long as they pay dues, on time the cardholders would see newness in their life style. But once card holders started using the credit excessively becoming a victim of consumerism that bedevils some developed economies heavily, they would give their card issuing firms more opportunity to make unreasonable profits from fees and bank directed hiked interests. The behavioral pattern for debt holders internationally bear out that availability of credit cards tend to make consumers less responsible about personal finances. That would explain, why banks in economies, which have more population of credit cards issued, tend to be generally more profit earning. A lot of those profits come to them, through charging high fees and hiking interest rates unilaterally, once the card holders and other debtors start defaulting. Ironically, more the consumers default, more the Banks tend to make money from fees and hiked interest earnings, so long as the defaults don’t swamp the economy or threaten the liquidity of the bank. Indian banks and financial institutions are helping a lot of people in the new millenium with issuance of credit cards to support their new life styles. However, they need to exercise caution that extra credit limits don’t roil the debtors and finally their institutions. They have the huge advantage of learning from global financial practices. Even financial institutions in highly developed economies are paying heavily for having expanded mindlessly the universe of debt, taking write downs and financial losses of several billions of dollars in a quarter, in recent times.

Globalization, Wealth Generation

and Growth of Modern Real Estate Industry

Globalization has been bringing a lot of new jobs to the destination cities such as Bangalore, Hyderabad etc. Jobs are causing naturally a lot of joy. The compensation levels have been distinctly higher than what domestic firms would have offered at similar level of qualification and professional experience. A lot of wealth generation in these cities have been going on, which is leading to development of city and businesses are also improving with higher purchasing power for those, who are working with foreign firms. Even the domestic firms are motivated to pay higher compensation to their employees, which indirectly enables people to live better quality of lives. Thus these cities are witnessing better standard of living and also growth in business, besides economic growth in the city. Pride of working in global organizations has been on the increase among the young professionals and that has done wonders in heightening their incredible confidence levels, even in their early 20s, not seen or heard in any other par of the world. This is a huge plus in these destination cities and this is also trickling to the young professionals in other growth centers. This positive phenomenon with professionalism might give further a solid boost to the Indian economy. Growth of commercial and housing real estate industry has expanded significantly.

The quality of real estate took a quantum jump. The apartments built were classy with nicely plastered walls and nice fixtures, The design of these apartments were pretty classy. Marble and granite was used significantly. Wardrobes exuded excellent quality. Other ancillary facilities such as gym, car parks, swimming pool became a reality and not a rarity. Security of all these places were nicely in place, with change of guards. Those who visited the complex had to make entry with the security guard before they could enter the high rise buildings. The places were self-contained.

Many real estate developers developed these high rise complexes that were sold lice hot cakes due to high density of private firm executives, who wanted to own these apartments. The loans for home purchase became a reality, as banks felt pretty secure knowing the high compensation many of these executives earned, working with multinationals. Further, the attrition rate of IT industry and the banks knew how tight labor market heightened the compensation of the young and they were overeager to lend capital with the apartments as collateral. The initiatives in the real estate came from the domestic industry while demand came from the effects of globalization.

Learning from Global Management

and Technology and New Jobs

Management practices that have helped succeed some businesses in America and also in EU and succeeded in achieving global outreach have been seeping into the organizational work environment in these Indian cities. This has been a plus, in many ways, as new ways of financial management, operational management and developing right business strategy is being learned by Indian managers, in foreign businesses located in these destination cities. This learning is also taking place in some domestic firms that might be collaborating with the foreign investors. Already successful firms like Infosys, Wipro and the like in Bangalore have been learning also new ways of business domestically, as well as globally. These firms have also been interfacing more in the new millenium with presence of a large number of American and EU firms in India particularly in destination cities like Bangalore Hyderabad, Delhi and Mumbai etc. Tatas and Ambanis in Mumbai have also been, in a learning mode, despite their success of decades in the Indian economy.

Today technology that gets passed on to the developing countries is no more antiquated, inefficient and old. With a little time lag, innovations get disseminated globally after globalization has come to be, since the early 1990s. Cell phones with latest features, ipods, MP3s, iphones, all of which are launched and bought and used globally at the same time. Even in manufacturing and information technology areas, machines with computer control equipment, and computer hardware and computer software are available globally. An innovation in engineering in science that is taking place in a particular country today, has the potential of quickly getting disseminated, all over the world. Japanese cars, video games have as much potential as American software, American high tech film making in India. India’s lead in information technology can be leveraged globally. Once globalization becomes a reality, in destination countries with focus of course initially on few destination cities/locations, it could benefit economies as a whole gradually. India in a big way has gained from the global interfaces.

Globalization helps grow new jobs, careers and training. That has happened in a big way in cities in India, which received the interface with globalization. In these cities developed numerous jobs and professions in different fields including interior decoration, fashion designing, placement agencies for secretarial, staff, placement services for construction workers, placement agencies for domestic help, agencies to verify antecedents, while placing staff, sleek fruit and vegetable stalls, computer and computer peripherals, retailers and distributor, eateries, departmental stores, fax and copying centers for students and offices, Internet cafes. Even entrepreneurial activities in these areas of businesses boomed. Children entertainment centers, small play equipment shops, Landscaping boutique contract firms, Cleaning services for workplaces commercial places hotels and shops, Stock Broker boutique shops etc. were other areas of economic activities that came up pretty fast. Florists were everywhere and so were neat small gift shops. Need for training in numerous new areas started with interface of globalization. Real estate both housing and commercial became highly professional modern and sophisticated. This needed unique skills, management expertise and capitalizing abilities of businesses. Training centers mushroomed to train the middle aged and old in computer and online trade transactions, to train in the online stock trading, to train people for high rise massive constriction projects, to train for customer service and sales in shopping malls, to train people in sales of finance and insurance products, in word tying and web site developments, also train people to work in call centers for honing communication skills

These initial leaders of globalization in India such as Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Delhi, have been inspiring the other smaller cities acting as which would continue to be trendsetters of globalization. Few more cities may witness opening of branches offices of MNCs Economies of scale and Economies of scope would also operate in businesses that expand into these cities from other places of India.

Some More Plusses of Globalization

India saw a few plusses from globalization. With salaries rising, the dispensable income increased and that led to improvement of the service sectors. Full day car taxis came to be available. Such facilities were available in the past but were far less efficient, even about 10 years ago. Now on the mere asking of it, one could hire a full day taxi service, to be driven around, within the city and also for inter city transportation. Radio car taxis have also started in some cities. Under this arrangement, one could call a radio taxi phone number and the taxi shows up, after a while, to help people commute distances within the city. This service only serves commutes within the city. Thus life has become comfortable and a visitor to the city could avoid waiting, at the bus stops, for public transportation. Prepaid taxi services have improved at the airports.

Further, the cell phones have mushroomed and it is available with housemaids to chauffeurs, milk delivery persons, small grocery shop workers, and also with workers doing jobs at the grocery, businesses and government offices. Availability of the cell phones has made services efficient and people can organize their lives better too. The sudden surge in cell phones with farmers in the rural areas, have also indirectly helped many farmers in the villages, to get better price for their farm produce, rather than depending on the middle men, who used to charge their commissions in the past, leading to less profits for the farmers. People can now reach the doctors and nurses on phone and seek guidance in matters of health care. India is still very informal and people have larger access to doctors/nurses, unlike in the developed economies, where a secretary would take the call, ask for reasons to contact the doctor and then perhaps schedule appointments that may be few days or few weeks. In India, the average hospital facilities may be far simpler but the doctors are easy to reach, than in the developed countries. One does not need any health insurance, to be able to get medically treated and the doctors are available, in cities, who cater to a radius of a few miles and easily approachable at a very moderate expenses. Dental and eye cares are even less pricey. With globalization, a number of corporate hospitals have however been set up, in the, big cities, where the rich and super rich can get best medical treatments, paying heavily for the same. These hospitals are becoming popular, with patients of EU countries and US, especially for surgeries, who find the medical care very professional and yet within their means, relative to stratospheric amounts for similar treatments, they have to pay in their respective countries.

STD phone booths that can talk nationwide and worldwide have been of great use all over the country, improving its communication systems, by leaps and bounds. People located in different parts of the country, can now talk and trade better and do myriad business activities, be it in farming, industrial or service sectors. The technology was introduced as early as in late 1980s, with the help of foreign educated technocrats. They dot not only rural areas but also cities and now cell phones have supplemented those STD services. Communication has certainly improved the dissemination of information, nationwide, making the volume and quality of businesses go up, in numerous notches.

The use of gizmos such as ipods, iphones, MP3s is on the rise, with particularly young consumers among the young, showing interest. Computers and laptops are favorites, for the home use, besides its increased application, in the businesses and also in government offices. That has increased the demand, for computers and its accessories, both by institutions and individuals. Information flow is enormous through the Internet, news media and many TV news channels. Information is helping to improve knowledge, business activities and of course stock trading, making the Sensex stock index and Nifty stock index boom. Online shopping and online banking, in the metropolises has a nice customer base. Banks have gone electronic, making transactions faster. Face to face banking services, also are pretty fast, as computers are used effectively, for routine bank operations. Bosses email subordinates, more than they meet and talk over phone. Email communications are on the rise. There are organizations, where many important meetings are held through the route of teleconferencing and videoconferencing. Government departments have also been holding meeting, through teleconferencing and videoconferencing since the late 1990s. Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have been the two pioneering states of India to introduce teleconferencing and videoconferencing as early as in the late 1990s.

Globalization has also spurred a booming education sector in India, especially in the new millennium. While education has always been considered very important, in Indian way of life, it received additional momentum, after India came on board with globalization, since the early 1990s. To meet the talent needs of numerous global firms, that have been starting their operations in India, for several years now, in the metropolises such as Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi etc, there has been a phenomenal growth of educational institutions. Numerous management and engineering institutions have been set up, in the last few years. These management institutions are churning out thousands of MBAs, annually. In addition, the engineering colleges educate annually, tens of thousands of engineering graduates, to come on board, to help India’s economy grow faster. The volume of technocrats and management graduates churned out annually, for the last 10 years is mind boggling, by even global standards. A few cities in India every year churn out more engineers than produced by some of the big developed countries. It is this focus on education, with both solid top down and bottom up initiatives and with a very firm support and motivation of Indian parents, which is making a big difference in the way India’s economy is growing. India’s educational system is supplying talent to run the Indian economy effectively and also supplying the talent needed by the global economy. Credit goes to the India’s committed intelligentsia, the planners and policy formulators, in the realm of education in the federal and state governments and also education entrepreneurs, who are taking the initiatives, to set up educational institutions and devising new ways to capitalize them. All of these constituencies have made this education effervescence, happen in India. India’s education system has always been a huge factor in its economic growth and global reputation.

International community has enormous faith in India’s rigor and seriousness in education and that explains, why so many global firms such as GE., IBM, Microsoft are using Indian educated talent, for furthering Research and Development, by opening research centers in India.

If India is marching ahead, with seriousness of expanding education, in science engineering and math, it is also seeing boost of entertainment facilities. Shopping Malls are coming up, in a big way, in the cities that mimic the shopping malls in the US with all of those world class architecture, nice layouts of the shops, a food court that caters variety of food and also movie theaters that houses several movies simultaneously. Health care gyms have become a part of nicely designed, high rise apartment buildings and many of them offer swimming pool facilities too. Golfing is becoming a game more reachable by the middle-class and tennis courts are coming up in the neighborhoods. Country clubs on the outskirts of the city provide relief, relaxation and entertainment to the professionals, who use these facilities. Life in cities has seen a significant improvement, in offering entertainment that compares with global standards. Real estate both commercial and housing, have turned world class and very sophisticated in the light of globalization. Bollywood churns out Very high quality films and a lot of their film shootings exclusively take place in foreign locations of OECD countries, including the US, Europe, Australia etc.

Role of Educated in India’s Economic Growth and Prosperity

Focus on education has always been a unique feature in India, for thousands of years. The education was accorded importance, in its absolute value and was never seen as a tool to enrich a person. A learned person was a GURU in India, revered by one and all. Kings and sages valued his counsel. In critical matters of running the governance, there are numerous instances, where Kings in India relied upon the counsel of the learned. Education in India, for thousands of years, has had a very long tradition of cosmopolitanism, plurality of Indian society and it was given to debating, in a peaceful environment. Learned people, while differing occasionally from each other, respected the feelings, the opinion and the position taken by other scholars. Scholars from different religions were known to come to a common platform, for deliberations and mutual learning. India in this respect of valuing education for only education’s sake probably commands a very unique place, in the comity of nations.

In modern times, partially influenced by the wage economy and also by the trickling of ideas from the developed countries of the west, through the route of globalization, education has come to be considered, by some, as a passport to higher economic status, higher living standards and better jobs/economic opportunities. This trend has increased in faster paced metropolises and that too in recent years, since the 1990s. An educated person earlier was modest, in his thinking and was happy to settle down in an income-earning job. Until about the 1980s, the educated, who had studied in the universities and had graduate degrees, happily worked in a wide range of jobs, differentiated by a wide range of salaries, without a grudge that some are earning more than others. Education per se, gave them a kind of pride, better horizons of thinking and higher levels of learning, no matter what happened to be the compensation. This was true for technocrats as well as for was those, who studied liberal arts. The engineers and technically qualified job seekers happily joined employment again, in a wide range of organizations, government, private and public sectors, with differentiated compensation structures. Thus technical talent of quality was available in different categories of economic activities. Another advantage was that even India’s lower bureaucracy, unlike in other parts of the world, including developed countries always had very qualified people. India is respected globally, for its democratic governance, its technical and managerial competencies, the skills and dedication to duties of its hard working labor, its Information Technology resources such as computer programmers and software professionals etc. It is known for its tradition of never defaulting on its international debt obligations to the multilateral institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF, its focus of education in science, engineering and math etc, its strong family values involving very high importance of marriage, as an institution, caring for children, caring for elders, its inclusive social policies and secularism. For all of these, in no small measure, the credit would go to government and private sectors both, which, in a collaborative manner ran the mixed economy of India. Government in India, came up with public policies of social and economic inclusiveness that unleashed a lot of talents, which could have otherwise remained locked up, if segregation and discrimination would have been the order of the day, in education and employment. Those who deserve credit for all these plusses would include the government, namely the lower bureaucracy, the higher bureaucracy, the doctors, the engineers, the members of the academia, mainly the learned academic faculties and scholars, who constitute the enthusiastic Indian intelligentsia. The academics in India believe like the rest in simplicity of life and often selflessly educate droves of aspiring students, in numerous universities, engineering and medical colleges and management institutions. Those who teach in the intermediate colleges and in the schools are a dedicated lot too. Similarly, to the professionals and executives, working in the private sector, in different layers of organization architecture, to the brilliant entrepreneurs, who made businesses, and to a vibrant and free press of India happen, a lot of credit would be due to make India’s economic progress happen despite starting late in the development due to exogenous factors.

The public leaders and the lawmakers, who accorded the leadership, to an economy and brought it to a level of GDP that commands global respect today and for its very fast economic growth, would deserve enormous credit. That does not take away the fact that in the political sphere, the selection of candidates, for election to legislature and parliament may need more due diligence by different political parties, to further improve the quality in political life. Political debates at the state legislatures and parliament are of a high order and have improved enormously over time. This could happen, as the politicians serve the electorates, populated by citizens, who are very engaged in issues.

Occasionally among some cross sections of modern educated, we notice a desire to draw a self directed credit and to disparage others which holds little substance, once we are cognizant of how much India has achieved in just half a century. No single constituency or a group of constituency can take the credit. One would be failing in one’s duty, if we do not accord appreciation, to hundreds of millions of private entrepreneurs, who populate the rural India and who manage their small sized farms to feed a nation over a billion, without relying on imports for decades now.

The most amazing aspect of Indian democracy has been the fact that every citizen, irrespective of educational and property qualifications, men and women got their rights to vote, as India adopted its own constitution, after its freedom from British rule on August 15, 1947. No country in the world probably would be able to claim, grant of universal suffrage, the right for every citizen to vote, without even asking for it. Thus while education was valued in India per se, always for thousands of years, the lack of it was not regarded as an impediment to add value to national life. Living a life of KARMA, TYAG and doing responsibility with nice values of family, marriage, caring for elders gave an average Indian confidence to deal with life confidently. The caring for children, the concern for community and neighborhood added to that confidence. Being a part of a very ancient civilization, Indians also benefited a great deal from a whole lot of informal knowledge, bequeathed from multiple generations. Elders were regarded for their knowledge and wisdom and the ancient tradition of touching the feet of elders with reverence, goes on even now, to show respect when one meets elders in social meetings. Elders deem their life to be meant, to serve those, who are younger and be caring for a lifetime and not until their adolescence, in many other developed economies. Elders of all economic spectrums, try to bequeath for the posterity, some inheritance of property and cash savings, a disappearing trend even in rich countries. There is no concept of reverse mortgages in India, which are being touted by global commercial banks to the elderly in developed countries and also to some extent, bought by the latter.

The education in India has been a plus factor, to attract foreign businesses and one of the factors that spurred globalization. Globalization, once in place, has made the children and the young enthusiastic about educating themselves with focus to improve their quality of life. The importance of education as a tool to improve economic opportunities came to be more of a tangible thinking in the minds of the young. Simultaneously the importance of education per se appears to have been receding in urban areas and an entitlement culture among the urban educated appears to be rising among the young.

With globalization, the accompanying prosperity and the dawn of jobs and economic opportunities, the cities, where foreign firms are arriving, have a nice new enthusiasm among children. They are becoming more hopeful of their economic prosperity, once they finish their education. They are also becoming ambitious to improve their quality of life. This is a happy trend in these cities and is also percolating down to other cities and towns, with the hope that globalization will arrive in their cities too, sometime in future and they will be able to leverage to improve their life styles. As long as this thought of ambition, is one among the several good thoughts of leading a balanced life between work and family, it is a positive trend and deserves appreciation. Thus globalization has come to be viewed by children and the young, as a source of opportunity to economically improve oneself and there lies the potential of its remaining sustainable in India.

Foreign businesses find doing business in India easy, due to lack of language barriers. India’s huge plus, is its command of English. Indians who interface with global businesses speak English fluently. English is the language, which is understood in India, throughout the length and breadth of the country. A few English words have also seeped, as a part of village vocabulary, in each one of the local Indian languages. In major cities and metropolises, educated people, no matter whether they studied until high school or went to University understand English. It is amazing, how Indian students tend to acclimate with English language. For example, those who did their high school