The Tale of Mukesh Ambani

"In the last century, Mohandas K. Gandhi was India's most famous and
powerful private citizen. Today, Mr. Ambani is widely regarded as
playing that role, though in a very different way. Like Mr. Gandhi,
Mr. Ambani belongs to a merchant caste known as the modh banias, is a
vegetarian and a teetotaler and is a revolutionary thinker with bold
ideas for what India ought to become. Yet Mr. Gandhi was a scrawny
ascetic, a champion of the village, a skeptic of modernity and a man
focused on spiritual purity. Mr. Ambani is a fleshy oligarch, a
champion of the city, a burier of the past and a man who deftly — and,
some critics say, ruthlessly — wields financial power. He is the
richest person in India, with a fortune estimated in the tens of
billions of dollars, and many people here expect that he will be the
richest person on earth before long," says a profile of Mukesh Ambani
one of the world's richest people in the New York Times today.

Wow to be compared to Gandhi, that is something, isn't for a man who
is building the worlds most expensive, extravagant, and elaborate home
in Mumbai. (See my earlier post
http://vtilak.blogspot.com/2008/05/how-richest-of-rich-will-live.html)

""Can we really banish abject poverty in this country?" he mused aloud
in a rare interview at his headquarters here. "Yes, in 10, 15 years we
can say we would have done that substantially. Can we make sure that
we create a social structure where we remove untouchability? We're
fast moving to a new India where you don't think about this caste and
that caste."

As millions of Indians graduate from burning cow dung for energy to
guzzling oil, Reliance is plowing billions of dollars into energy
exploration and is building the world's largest oil refinery. It has
also opened a chain of nearly 700 stores selling food and various
wares; Mr. Ambani promises that it will funnel money from the
flourishing cities into the struggling agricultural heartland. He
envisions Reliance, with $39 billion in revenue, as providing incomes
to 12 million to 30 million Indians within the next five years by
buying from farmers and employing new workers in its stores.

And as Mumbai, Mr. Ambani's hometown and the commercial and
entertainment capital of India, has grown ever more populous and ever
less livable, he has proposed that Reliance simply build a new,
improved city across the harbor," says this very interesting article
about an even more interesting man.

Read the full article at--
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/15/business/worldbusiness/15ambani.html?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

Dumping US Toxic Waste in India...

The port city of Tuticorin, where my maternal grandfather is from, is
one of the loveliest towns I have been to. With it's salt pans and
period housing and charming people it is a laid back little town, and
now here we go polluting it with toxic waste.

The Times Of India reports that, "Thousand tonnes of hazardous
American waste have been dumped at Tamil Nadu's Tuticorn Port, where
almost 35 large containers conceal the waste, that has been lying
untouched for the past three years. There is reportedly an amount of
890 tonnes of harmful waste that has been brought all the way from New
Jersey. The biggest question though is if it is a case of civic apathy
or a classic case of the West treating India as a dumping ground.

Since the past three years, contaminated municipal waster such as
polythene bags, crushed soft drink cans, pesticide containers, used
batteries, metal wires and others more have been rotting away at the
port. The cargo reportedly reached India as a part of wastepaper
imported by an Indian company back in 2005. However, during the
routine checks, port authorities -- much to their shock -- discovered
that the cargo did not have only paper but carcenogenic waster
discarded by America.

However, the fact that has been interesting is that in September 2007,
a committee constituted by the Madras High Court had certified that
the American garbage posed a threat to the people of India and the
environment. Following this, the Madras High Court demanded that this
trash be sent back to New Jersey immediately. But, much to the horror
of environmentalists, the scrap still lies around the area and the
Indian company is unwilling to take responsibility of the cargo. The
Americans also are refusing to take the waste back. BP Shukla, Zonal
Officer - South Central Pollution Control Board said, "This
consignment has municipal waste that cannot be allowed inside India."

In all probabilities , most of the townsfolk, innocent and naive as
they are would probably not even be aware of this and would have been
affected by the toxic waste already! Earlier a similar incident
occurred when toxic waste from New York was dumped in another charming
port city, Kochi!!!

Read the full Times of India article at--
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India_dumping_ground_for_US_toxic_waste/articleshow/3119228.cms

The Upside Down World

"Developed", "Developing", and "Underdeveloped" countries. I wonder
who coined these terms and how they came up with the classification.

A country which was once very rich and well matured, with some of the
best in education, science, business and trade is plundered by various
foreign invaders and is left limping to fend for itself. This nation
whose limbs have been cut-off and is now struggling to grow again, and
is called a developing nation. The foreign nation that was the
plunderer takes the term developed nation. It is all very confusing to
me, and not convincing.

To this effect Roger Cohen's editorial in the New York Times says,
that the world once again has become upside down. He says, "For a
while the world was flat. Now it's upside down. To understand it,
invert your thinking. See the developed world as depending on the
developing world, rather than the other way round. Understand that
two-thirds of global economic growth last year came from emerging
countries, whose economies will expand about 6.7 percent in 2008,
against 1.3 percent for the United States, Japan and euro zone
states."

Citing Indian examples he emphasizes, "That's also a good position
from which to view India's Tata Motors agreeing to buy Land Rover and
Jaguar from Ford for $2.3 billion, or Tata Steel's acquisition last
year of the Anglo-Dutch Corus Group steel company for $12 billion.
Globalization is now a two-way street; in fact it's an Indian street
with traffic weaving in all directions."

"A shift in economic power is under way to which the developed world
has not yet adjusted. Of course the G-8 and the permanent membership
of the U.N. Security Council need to be expanded to reflect this
change. The 21st century can't be handled with 20th-century
institutions.That's obvious. Less obvious is how the United States,
which underwrites global security at vast expense, begins to share
this burden, so that the new multi-polarity of wealth is reflected in
a multipolarity of security commitments. Headstands are in order for
the next U.S. president," writes Cohen.

Read the whole commentary at --
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/02/opinion/l02cohen.html?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

Outsourcing is a Two-way Street

"So long as America remains one of the world's largest consumer
markets and there are enough economic incentives to move production to
the U.S., the flow of global employment will run both ways," says an
article in Forbes. The author writes, "Some pundits and politicians
love to complain about how Americans lose their jobs because of
cheaper labor overseas. But many foreign companies create jobs for
Americans by investing and operating in the U.S."

Not many think of it this way, unfortunately. Many view outsourcing as
a one way street, when in fact it goes several different ways, truly
making this world a global village.

Another excerpt from this article says, "Even Indian
information-technology outsourcing companies are bringing operations
to the U.S. Despite its far-flung location, Applabs, a large
independent IT quality-assurance provider, has opened offices in
Philadelphia and Lindon, Utah.

How could America's workforce be as appealing to outsourcers as
India's? "Companies are already seeing in Bangalore, India, that there
is such a tight labor market that their wages have gone up
dramatically in the past couple of years," Heijmen says. A more
expensive labor market, compounded by the relative weakness of the
dollar, has made operating within the U.S. an increasingly attractive
option for foreign companies.

To be sure, American companies continue to offshore all manner of
duties to other nations around the world. But experts say its
converse, foreign hiring of American workers, won't cease anytime
soon."

Read the full article at --
http://www.forbes.com/opinions/2008/05/25/foreign-labor-auto-oped-cx_jhb_outsourcing08_0529america.html

Has Baseball Arrived in India?

Baseball has never been a popular sport in India. College kids,
especially girls play some softball, but for some reason baseball
never caught on, not until now...

"Rinku Singh, 18, and fellow javelin thrower Dinesh Patel began a
year-long training stint in Los Angeles last week after winning an
India-wide pitching contest, "The Million-Dollar Arm."
The boys, from poor families, used their natural shoulder strength to
take the top two spots from among 8,000 participants.
Another teenager, Manoj Shukla, will receive a month's training after
he came third of the 27 finalists.
The winners, who were handed their visas in a ceremony at the U.S.
embassy in New Delhi, will get an opportunity to be assessed by
professional baseball scouts at the end of their one-year stint.
Their U.S-based promoters are hoping the youngsters can make it as
professionals, saying such success would boost baseball in India in
the same way that Yao Ming's move to the NBA created a fan base for
basketball in China," reports Reuters.

Over the last few years, I have seen sports like bowling, football,
triathlons, formula one racing and others picking up steam in India,
sports that many of us never even knew about until we came to America.
It'll be interesting to watch and see how baseball catches on, if it
catches on at all, what with stiff competition from Cricket!

Reuters also reports that, "India, world cricket's commercial hub, has
become a big draw for other sports hoping to tap into its booming
economy. Golf is taking giant strides and India staged its first
European Tour events this year while soccer authorities are pushing to
revive the game in the country. The Australian Football League (AFL)
announced plans this month to push the game in India in their search
for new markets."

Read the full Reuters article at--
http://uk.reuters.com/article/UK_WORLDFOOTBALL/idUKDEL24903820080513?pageNumber=4&virtualBrandChannel=0

Really Nice GE Ad...

Lead India Video - Priyanka Chopra

Lead India Video - Abhishek Bacchan

Lead India Video - SRK

Lead India Video - Amitabh

Can India Save the World?

"Humanity is embarking on a bizarre journey into the future.
Subconsciously, we all believe (or would like to believe) that we live
in a rational, well-ordered universe. The reality is closer to the
opposite. If this sounds unbelievable, consider the following analogy.
Imagine 660 passengers boarding a ship that is sailing into
unchartered waters. After boarding, all 660 retreat into their cabins.
No captain or crew is taking care of the ship as a whole.

Sadly, this is a literal, not metaphorical description of how
spaceship Earth is sailing into the future. Globalisation has shrunk
the world. All 6.6 billion inhabitants now live in a single
interdependent universe. From financial crises to health epidemics,
from borderless terrorism to global warming, we are moving into a
world where more global governance (not global government) is needed
to manage the growing interdependence. Instead, precisely when more is
needed, humanity is either shrinking or weakening global governance.
This essay will explain why. It will also argue that perhaps only one
country can solve this crisis — India," writes Kishore Madhubani in an
interesting essay in the Hindustan Times.

Read the full essay at --
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=b256bfa5-2b67-4cd0-8113-224240a01d87&MatchID1=4664&TeamID1=5&TeamID2=2&MatchType1=1&SeriesID1=1173&PrimaryID=4664&Headline=Can+India+save+the+world%3f

Bollywood Goes Global???

An interesting article in the Washington Post which debates why
Bollywood is going global.

An excerpt --
"More than ever before, Bollywood is being flooded with cash from
Indian investors who see the country's film industry as a money
machine. The rise of the multiplex theater has led to a wider variety
of films, with more socially relevant scripts that discard the
overused Bollywood formula: a rambling, four-hour hodgepodge of twins
separated at birth, rare blood diseases, wet sari scenes and lots and
lots of singing and dancing in alpine meadows. More linear and
socially conscious storylines are becoming popular, as are shorter
movies.

"The new trend in Bollywood is the death of the cliche," said Anupam
Kher, an award-winning Bollywood actor who has been in more than 300
films. Three years ago, Kher opened Actor Prepares, one of many acting
schools trying to improve the skills of young Indian actors. He also
has announced plans to open a school in London that will teach
foreigners, as well as those of Indian descent, thick Hindi dialects,
yoga and the infamous Bollywood style of dancing (think petting a dog
with one hand and screwing in a little bulb with the other, as
described in the film "Bride and Prejudice").

"We used to have very few trained actors. We were a young country.
Entertainment was the last thing on our agenda," Kher said between
takes on a film set. But now, "the Indian economy is booming, and
Bollywood is booming right along with it. There is a huge middle class
who have traveled and watched foreign movies on cable or at an upscale
multiplex. The consumer has awakened, and the quality is soaring."

Read the full article at--
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/08/AR2008030802679.html

Is India Flushed With Venture Capital Money?

"Never in its history has India been so flushed with venture capital money. In 2007, 50 new VC firms sprouted in India. There are about 500 in total now, a far cry from the mid-1990s, when I started my career as an entrepreneur doing business in India. In 2007, close to $1 billion in venture capital funds washed through India.

That's led to a problem oddly familiar to Silicon Valley investors: too much money, not enough worthy entrepreneurs. In VC parlance, fundable deals are few and far between. Why?" asks Sramana Mitra in a commentary in Forbes.

"India's meteoric rise in the tech world has been driven by providing back-office services. That work puts a premium on skills such as engineering management and coding. Someone else--somewhere else--writes the specifications for the projects. Again, someone else, somewhere else does the market studies analyzing the potential of a new product.

Indian managers have had scarce opportunities to learn the nuances of how global technology markets work. That means that local entrepreneurs can try to position products, but they do so without detailed and disciplined marketing knowhow," she says.

Read the full commentary at --
http://www.forbes.com/technology/2008/03/06/mitra-india-venture-tech-enter-cx_sm_0307venture.html

India's Billionaires

A video on India's billionaires from Forbes

http://www.forbes.com/video/?video=fvn/lists/pm_indiarich111407_cw

Walmart stores launch Indian garments across Canada

From the Economic Times --

"Wal-Mart stores across Canada will now sell Indian garments for men,
women and kids under the brand name "Bollywood signatures".

Under multi-year agreement between Ranka Group of Companies and
Wal-Mart, 20 stores of Wal-Mart launched yesterday will sell Indian
family apparel, covering a wide range of clothing including women's
and children's.

"My life dream to promote India in Canada is fulfilled. I have been
working for years to promote self esteem for Indian women and wellness
for the entire family in Canada. Now the company has the opportunity
with Wal-Mart to create Indian garments with latest North American
style that combine our design experiences with great value and
innovative ideas to fulfill this dream," said President of Ranka
Enterprise Inc Kash Sood.

This landmark deal combines the talent and experience of our company
with Wal-Mart's reach and vision. We believe this partnership will
deliver extraordinary results, Sood added."

Read this article at --
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Wal-Mart_stores_launch_Indian_garments_across_Canada/articleshow/2826572.cms

World's Densest Cities

India and China account for 9 of the world's top densest cities according to Forbes magazine. From South Asia, Mumbai is #1, Kolkata is #2, Karachi is #3, Chennai is at #8, Delhi is at #13, Jakarta, Indonesia is #17, and Bangalore is #19.

An excerpt --

"Where are cities most dense? Look no further than Asia, where concentrated economic growth has spawned 16 of the 20 densest urban areas in the world, according to 2007 statistics from citymayors.com. Leading the way are Mumbia and Kolkata, both in India, each of which pack in over 23,000 people per square kilometer. Both cities, along with those close behind like Karachi, Pakistan, Lagos, Nigeria and Shenzhen, China, hold about as many people within a handful of square blocks as live in U.S. metros like Charleston, S.C., Green Bay, Wis., or Berkeley, Calif."

Read the full story at --

http://www.forbes.com/2007/12/14/cities-pollution-asia-biz-logistics-cx_tvr_1214densecities.html

Two Indian Cities on Forbes List of Top 25 Dirtiest

Forbes lists the top 25 worlds dirtiest, and you bet South Asia has
entries in this list.
New Delhi is at #24
Mumbai is at # 7
and Dhaka, Bangladesh is at #2

An excerpt --
"To see which cities in the world were dirtiest, we turned to Mercer
Human Resource Consulting's 2007 Health and Sanitation Rankings. As
part of their 2007 Quality of Life Report, they ranked 215 cities
worldwide based on levels of air pollution, waste management, water
potability, hospital services, medical supplies and the presence of
infectious disease.

All cities are positioned against New York, the base city with an
index score of 100. For the Health and Sanitation Rankings, the index
scores range from the worst on the list--Baku, Azerbaijan, with a
score of 27.6--to the best on the list--Calgary, Canada, with a score
of 131.7."

Also on Forbes ;ist of the 10 most polluted cities in the world India, has two listings, Sukinda and Vapi.

Read the full story on the world's dirtiest cities at --
http://www.forbes.com/2008/02/26/pollution-baku-oil-biz-logistics-cx_tl_0226dirtycities.html

Read about the world's top 10 polluted cities at -- http://www.forbes.com/2007/11/29/environment-green-blacksmith-biz-man-cx_db_1129pollute.html?feed=rss_news

India is an emerging market to watch

Another columnist who reiterates that India is an emerging market that should be watched.

"India has been the second-biggest spender on infrastructure in Asia over the past year. The country was planning to lay long fixed-line telephone connections to rural communities when wireless and cell phone technologies flew right past them," says Bill Donoghue, on Dow Jones Marketwatch.

Read the full piece at--

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/india-indonesia-two-emerging-markets/story.aspx?guid=%7B98305398-5071-4200-83FC-C1B7F33F896B%7D

Globalization of Business Education

Gobalization of Business education is not very new. But according to
this article in the New York Times, some SOuthern California
universities are taking this to a new level.

"SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA universities have long led the nation in the
number of students enrolled from other countries. Now the
universities' business programs are taking the globalization of
education to a different level, offering courses that go beyond dry
corporate case studies and broadening their collaboration with
universities and businesses abroad, particularly in Asia," reports the
New York Times in an article titled "Business Schools Break Tradition
in Global Education.

Read the full article at --
http://select.nytimes.com/mem/tnt.html?emc=tnt&tntget=2008/02/21/business/21edge.html&tntemail0=y