Digital Desis or Giant Managers?

re: a coup of sorts at Davos
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/jan2006/nf20060130_4381_db032.htm
When u see CEO of Dell doing a ``namaste`` and donning a red Tilak on his forehead, u know India has arrived!
(Selling India Inc. at Davos
The country`s top ministers and policymakers made many lucrative contacts among the foriegn power brokers on hand at the global economic conference


At Davos on Thursday night, the high and mighty had a choice of events: a speech by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan or the popular annual jazz dinner. Not bad. But about 700 participants at this year`s World Economic Forum gabfest opted for another venue at the Central Sporthotel in Davos Platz. The event? India`s Republic Day celebration cocktail. Advertisement

There they were, the important and influential from former U.S. Presidential candidate John Kerry to PC master Michael Dell to the chief executives of Citicorp (C ) and UBS (UBS ). Panitchpakdi Supachai, the former World Trade Organization chief, was amazed. ``Just five years ago, the India reception attracted 50, maybe 60 people. But look at it now! India is doing so well now, it doesn`t need our help any more.``

DISCO TO BREAKFAST. Indeed, India has been helping itself quite effectively at Davos this year. Sessions on the country were filled to overflowing, from the ``Emergence of India`` and ``New Energy for India`s Reforms`` to the session on India`s and China`s oil and gas needs and the discussion on Indo-U.S. relations. So were the social events, like the Republic Day celebration and the disco night at the Copacabana club on Jan. 27, where 300 lingered until 4 a.m. to hear Indian DJ Aqueel play Hindi pop.

The last day of the conference began with a packed breakfast at the Hotel Belvedere where India`s top ministers and bureaucrats talked about the importance of foreign direct investment and ended with a rocking Bollywood gala soiree.

That`s only the official Davos program. More important was what happened on the sidelines. In a shrewd move to build bilateral ties with countries that matter to India, like Japan, the U.S., and Brazil, India`s ministers went to work as salesmen, meeting top businessmen and officials and extracting promises of investment, particularly in infrastructure -- the first time Indians have focused on what investors regard as the biggest hurdle to foreigners coming to India.

``STORY OF THE PAST.`` Commerce Minister Kamal Nath met with his American trade counterparts like Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick and U.S. Trade Represntative Rob Portman. Nath`s meeting with Michael Dell resulted in a coup: In the next two months, Dell will begin building a large PC manufacturing facility in India -- the country`s first by a multinational. Nath`s job, he says, is to explain to the world about the ``10 paradigm shifts taking place simultaneously in India. Outsourcing is a story of the past. We now want people to see India as a manufacturing base, as the youngest nation with fortunate future demographics.``

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram scored a key success by luring Japanese business to India -- a commercial alliance of great importance to Tokyo, because of Japan`s growing fears and suspicion of China. On Jan. 26, Chidambaram hosted eight Japanese businessmen, including the chairmen of Toshiba, Nomura Securities, and Sumitomo. Also present was the chief of Japan`s external trade organization and a young member of the Japanese parliament.

The result? A promise by Japanese companies to look anew at India`s power sector and a commitment to conduct a study on investing in the new dedicated rail-freight corridor connecting Bombay, Delhi, and Calcutta. ``We will build our infrastructure with Japanese help,`` said Chidambaram.

VISIBILITY AND ALLURE. Other officials were hard at work, too. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the senior-most policymaker in India`s government, wined and dined informally with policymakers and bankers, like the head of JP Morgan Chase (JPM ), while Ministers Oomen Chandy of Kerala and Vasudra Raje of Rajasthan met with investors from the technology, tourism, and education sectors.

Indian businessmen, of course, have been using Davos to network with their peers and customers for years. This year, however, India`s visibility has given them more allure. Chief executives like Yogi Deveshwar of agro conglomerate ITC, Nandan Nilekani of Infosys (INFY ), and Ajay Piramal of pharma major Nicholas Piramal slept less than four hours a night, packing in over a dozen side meetings along with their obligatory session appearances at the conference. If the payoff comes in a burst of foreign investment, it will be well worth the sleep deprivation.)
Sridhar

re:#309 by arjun_m
(Pakis aren`t far behind)
Ha, ha.
So it seems.
Sridhar

#308 by rsridhar on January 30, 2006 6:40pm PT

Pakis aren`t far behind

re: Empire strikes back!
It is payback time. India, a colony, is playing a different tune today.
At least so it seems from this article
(Saroj Poddar, president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said: ``The UK is one country where Indian investment exceeds the UK’s in India.``

Indian companies invested $1 billion (£566 million) in new British developments, or ``greenfield`` projects, in the year to March 31, 2005, with ``slightly less going the other way``, Mr Poddar said.

Indian companies have continued the trend this year as Mahindra & Mahindra, the Indian utility vehicle maker, bought Stokes Forgings, a components manufacturer with factories in Dudley and Walsall, in the West Midlands.)

India Inc creates more jobs for foreigners
Thus dispelling the earlier notion that India is taking away jobs.
Sridhar

Well said, I am going to throw away my 5 page document that I was writing on the same subject as yours is better than mine.

Indians are making dent in Management and it is becoming harder and harder to overcome this global managment parity. Still there are some exceptions such as Ajay Singh of Citi(3rd in line), TDwaterhouse`s COO, Amex`s CIO, MS co-founder etc.

what was your school`s name is Naampalli?

Hello inbred retard...Dell, based in Austin(your home town), hiring in India..and not Pakiland..

Dell to Hire 5,000 People in India

By RAJESH MAHAPATRA
The Associated Press
Monday, January 30, 2006; 6:00 AM

NEW DELHI -- Computer maker Dell Inc. said Monday it planned to add 5,000 jobs in India over the next two years, bringing its work force in the country to 15,000.

Dell is also looking to set up a manufacturing center in India, a move that could help boost the sale of Dell computers here, President and CEO Kevin Rollins told reporters after a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

re: India versus China
Which is better: the messy Indian democracy or the Chinese model? asks the Philadelphia Enquirer
http://www.sulekha.com/news/nhc.aspx?cid=443226
(India`s messy democracy or China`s model of economics?
By Trudy RubinDAVOS, Switzerland -
You could almost hear the tectonic plates shifting at this year`s World Economic Forum, where the giants of capitalism and their political leaders gather every year to discuss the state of the world.
This year`s spotlight wasn`t on the American economy. Nor was the focus on Europe. The stars of Davos 2006 were the world`s new economic giants, India and China, with more than two billion people between them.
A raft of panels discussed the emergence of China and India. But a constant subtext of the discussions was one of the most fascinating questions to emerge from this year`s forum: Is China`s top-down model of economic development better for business? Or can India`s messy democracy provide an alternative model for growth?
So far, China is growing faster than India, attracts 10 times the foreign direct investment, and has proved far more successful at building infrastructure to get goods to market. This month, China became the world`s fourth-largest economy, passing Britain. But the confidence of young, dynamic Indian high-tech whiz kids is infections.
At a glitzy cocktail party at the posh Belvedere Hotel, one of several thrown by Indian firms this week, elegant saris could be seen among the business suits, the spicy canapés were garnished with mint and yogurt, and the logo of the host firm, an Indian high-tech leader named Infosys Technologies Ltd., proclaimed: ``Powered by Intellect, Driven by Values.``
Around 150 Indian businessmen, journalists, government ministers, and top state officials swept into Davos, along with a massive promotion campaign on the Web and on posters, proclaiming: ``India - the world`s fastest growing market democracy.``
Only a decade ago, India retained a socialist mind-set, and businessman was a dirty word. Economic reforms got going only in 1991 and didn`t take off until the last few years. Even today, the tens of millions who staff India`s high-tech industries and outsourcing firms live only hours away from impoverished villagers. India still suffers from widespread illiteracy, bad roads, and an infuriating bureaucracy.
But the Indian attitude toward entrepreneurship has changed (perhaps in part because of the success of neighbor China`s capitalist model). ``Twenty years ago,`` says Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath, ``everyone asked me to get them a job in the public sector. Now, they want me to get them a job in Infosys.``
And India`s democratic openness and rule of law have encouraged a wave of technological innovation that China still lacks. ``There is a degree of freedom that creates aspirations,`` says Anand Mahindra. This Harvard M.B.A. returned home and now is vice chairman of a family firm, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., that produces automobiles and farm equipment, among other items. Indian democracy means that no one censors Google, and the country is way ahead of China in the information-technology sector. Independent thinking also produces better managers.
Although it receives fewer foreign and investment funds, India uses the capital more productively, I was told by Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Huang Yasheng at Davos. Maybe that productivity comes from the fact that managers and local officials aren`t protected from scrutiny the way they often are in China. India`s democracy provides a check on corrupt government officials.
``Previously, people argued that China did well economically and India politically,`` says Huang. ``But I argue that there are economic advantages of having good governance. It will help India overcome caste and lack of basic education of the workforce.``
And democracy keeps voter pressure on government officials to eliminate barriers that keep Indians from making further economic progress. Infosys president Nandan Nilekani says the Indian public will press officials to eliminate the bureaucratic barriers that block small entrepreneurs and that keep their children from getting an education.
``There is no choice,`` Nilekani says. ``Democracy will ensure that the restrictions to job creation are lowered. No one can stop this.``
Maybe it`s the crush of visible talent at the Infosys party that makes me want to believe democratic India can do as well as China. The issue really isn`t which model is better. Rather, one hopes that India can prove that messy democracies are no obstacle to creating prosperity in a developing country. When you talk to Indian entrepreneurs at Davos, this is easy to believe.)
Sridhar