The India story unfolds another set of months in mid-year, defining action on the political, business and judiciary fronts. One of the most watched at nation, ever since the new government took the reins in May 2014, has repositioned its brand perception significantly to be read, amongst other things, as being Globally Competitive.
The barometer of confidence of the global investor community, in India as a business destination manifests from its serious commitment of investment in strengthening the manufacturing sector-base. This belief was delivered when Foxconn, the world's largest contract manufacturer committed an investment of US $5 bn for setting up manufacturing facility over 5 years. This was a follow-up on another investment of US $20 bn by the Company along with Softbank, a Japanese telecommunications company and Bharti Enterprises, part of the Indian telecom Group, Airtel. With these large commitments, the confidence in the Indian story is slowly becoming a reality.
The Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi launched the signature campaign 'Digital India' in the first week of July which has the potential to touch the lives of all Indians. The campaign consists of 3 key initiatives; internet access to all Indians, digitization of every document and establishment of centres of excellence for internet of things on a PPP model which is designed to bring the government and industry together. Clearly, the success of these centres and its potential transportability to other cities can determine how profound the impact of this movement will be, on the entire country.
Speaking of the effectiveness of campaigns, the much touted 'Make in India' still remains a work-in-progress document. The gargantuan challenge ; Easy access to Land : the ambitious land acquisition bill is now waiting to be tabled in winter session of the Parliament; Labour : the key reforms are still being awaited and Affordable Capital : still remains to be delivered to the industry to give fillip to the campaign which would essentially boost the much-needed exports that is showing a declining curve.
On a positive note, the e-commerce and the start-up space remains vibrant with billions dollar valuation and large fund commitments from private equity and strategic investors. The inflows from PE during the first half of 2015 exceeded US $7.1 bn with deal space occupied by IT, ITeS, banking, finance and pharmaceuticals bagging large share of such investments.
The June-August period is very much the monsoon season in most of parts of India. The normal vs deficient rainfall still has a large impact on the fate of the Indian economy, what with large part of it, still being agrarian. Unsurprisingly, the industrial sector, the FMCG and the GDP of the Indian economy hinges on a normal monsoon. As we bring out this update, India waits with bated breadth that the current deficit in rainfall will eventually be wiped off and hope that the country does not witness a drought.
Taking a global bite, it would not be unfair to say that there is much more to India and the Indians residing in India. Once again, a Global Indian, Sundar Pichai, a technocrat, was named the chief executive of Google, the world search-engine and joins a respectable list of global Indians who currently head large world corporations such as Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft Corporation, Indra Nooyi, CEO of PepsiCo to name a few.
As India stepped into its 69th year of Independence on August 15, every Indian stood renewed with pride, promise & hope for a Great Future.
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