Mithilesh Jha, an IITian graduate engineer from Kanpur in computer engineering and working in some high executive position in Cadence India met me during my morning walk today. He was with one of his sons who is in IT-BHU studying computer engineering. I was amazed to hear from him that he has left his job and gone for starting his own chip designing company. Many young Indians are doing this. Even few fresh IIM graduates are preferring to go for doing something of their own leaving the foreign postings with huge salaries that couldn’t be dreamt off even few years ago. As it appears from all the news and reports, Indian economy is booming.

This article presents real picture of India on international level in various fields and will be continued further.

India a trillion-$ economy: Indian GDP at current market prices, according to advance estimates, is Rs 41, 00,636 crore in 2006-07. With the rupee below 41 a dollar, India becomes a trillion dollar economy. And it is going to race up.
NRI: According to the report of the high-powered committee on making Mumbai an international financial hub, the 20-million strong NRI community has an estimated financial wealth of over $500 billion. Factor in other assets like real estate, gold and art and the total estimated wealth of the NRI community, the report says, is over $1 trillion.
FDI: India at least its government aims at $30 billion in foreign direct investment this year on the back of huge interest in the country from auto and electronics manufacturers. FDI would constitute 3.3% of GDP, up from 2.5% last fiscal. In 2006-07, FDI inflows touched $19 billion, of which $3.5 billion were reinvested earnings. Interestingly, FDI inflows in the current year are mainly increasing in manufacturing, auto, semiconductor, electronic hardware and services.

Manufacturing that has an employee base of 41.5 million will double by 2010.
Net profit for the top five outsourcing companies - Tata Consultancy, Infosys, Wipro Ltd., Satyam Computer Services Ltd and HCL Technologies Ltd, ranked in that order - grew to a collective US$3 billion (euro2.2 billion) for the fiscal year through March, up 47 per cent. Sales, meanwhile, jumped 41 per cent to a combined US$13.6 billion(euro10 billion). And the top four software companies (HCL Technologies figure was not available) won 713 new clients last year.

Indian IT consulting firm Tech Mahindra has been ranked as one of the top five leaders in the overall business support systems (BSS) worldwide. Tech Mahindra focuses on the communications space, leaving behind the global majors like Capgemini, CSG Systems and Comverse, as per the latest Gartner report — ‘Market Share: Business Support Systems for the year 2006'.
Pharmaceutical: A dozen Indian pharmaceutical companies led by Aurobindo Pharma, Wockhardt, Ranbaxy, Dr Reddy’s Lab and Sun Pharma have bagged almost one-fourth of generic drug approvals in the US in the four-and-a-half month from December 2006. Out of the 186 original abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) approvals granted by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) during the period, about a dozen Indian companies bagged 43 approvals, which is 23.11 per cent of the total approvals granted.
According to the comparative survey by the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), between 2006 and 2007 India is top of the list with an index of 67.6, followed by Vietnam and China with 51.5 and 39.9, with regard to the business prospects of the subsidiaries of Japanese companies.

Rural spending shows prosperity: According to the 61st round of the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) report, the number of rural households using LPG has increased six-fold between 1993-94 and 2004-05. However, only 12 in 100 households use cooking gas. Rural India is spending a lot more money on education: Between 1999-2000 and 2004-05, the share of rural expenditure on tuition and other educational fees has risen from 29% to 44%. India vs. China: The eight Indian companies are part of S&P’s list of 300 mid-size companies across 37 countries in the latest S&P Global Challengers List. India ranks seventh in terms of the companies per country that figure in the list. In contrast, China has four companies on the list.
An innovative nation: In a new study, India has emerged as the second best place for business innovation after the US. In a survey of 485 senior executives worldwide carried out by Hong Kong-based Economist Intelligence Unit, Japan has emerged as the world’s most innovative nation in terms of business practices, followed by Switzerland, US and Sweden. India has been ranked at 58th position, ahead of China’s 59th position in a ranking of 82 economies, based on their level of innovation during 2002-06. But the report also concludes that India will give away its lead over China as an innovative country in the next five years.
IT excels: IT services major Wipro Technologies said it has bagged the ‘SAP Pinnacle Award’ in the area of Software Solutions Leadership.
Industrial Manufacturing CorridorAccording to India and Japan, the DMIC (Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor) project-to be launched in 2008 and completed by 2015-would entail an investment of $45-50 billion.
Corporate India helps rural poverty alleviation: HLL will aim to reach 600 million consumers in five-lakh villages through one-lakh entrepreneurs by 2010.
India matters for Airbus and Boeing: Rapidly expanding Indian carriers have ordered close to $40 billion worth of big jets over the past two years. So far, Airbus, has bagged 295 orders from Indian customers since January 2005, vs. 138 for Boeing. The value of Boeing’s order book is close to $20 billion at list prices, while it is roughly $22 billion for Airbus.
Chindia ahead of other BRIC members: According to a survey of 350 international, mainly expatriate investors, mostly belonging to the US, UK and continental Europe by Luxembourg-based broker Internaxx, Chindia make a more compelling proposition than the first half of the BRICs acronym. The survey found that 42 per cent of international investors felt positive about China and 32 per cent about India, while only five jewellery. The recent spate of acquisitions by the big players in the business of reputed US brands, and the removal of import duty on polished diamonds are giving big push in the direction of creating a global hub in India. India is already the largest manufacturer of cut and polished diamonds with 10 out of every 11 diamonds being processed here. Diamond and jewellery exports reached $16.6 billion last year, second only to IT-related exports. With London and Antwerp slowly declining in importance, India could soon become the manufacturing as well as trading hub.
India exports cars: The export of passenger cars from India is expected to touch one million by 2010, a shade lower than the last financial year’s total domestic sales of 1.3 million, and nearly a third of the projected production of three million. Last year, the country exported only 198,478 cars - less than 13 per cent of the 1,544,850 produced.

India Attractting global manufacturers: Singapore-based $2.1b IT component major eSys Technologies, with worldwide back office operations is investing Rs 1,000 cr in India. This includes a Rs 250 crore investment in setting up a PC manufacturing plant at Nalagarh, Himachal Pradesh with an annual capacity of 1.2 million units and another Rs 100 crore in global back-office operations in Chandigarh.

India as R&D hub

1.The world’s largest manufacturer of healthcare products, Johnson & Johnson, is making India a global hub of its research and development as it looks to ramp up its pharmaceutical business in the country. The company is investing $17.5 million in its analytical and pharmaceutical development centre in Mumbai, which conducts early-stage drug development. In a few months, the number of professionals working there will rise from 65 to 150.

2.Korean consumer electronics major Samsung would hire about 700 R&D software engineers for its centre at Noida. “Currently, we employ 300 people at Samsung India Software Centre (SISC) and would take the number up to 400 by this year end, eventually we hope to touch 1,000 in the next three years,” Samsung India Electronics Vice President Software Centre Vikram Vij told PTI.
3.Blackberry-maker Research In Motion (RIM) will soon set up its R&D and customer support base in

opposed to the global trend, the crunch seems to be easing off in India. The global recruitment firm Manpower conducted the study in late January 2007.
Finishing schools for improved employability: Dale Carnegie, one of the prestigious universities in the US, and other agencies are exploring the idea of setting up an IT finishing school in Karnataka and elsewhere for providing specialised training to fresh engineering pass-outs to make their ready for IT industries.
Auto makers partner state-run ITIs: Auto and autoparts makers, such as Toyota and the Sona Koyo group of autopart makers, are partnering state-run ITIs to train students to meet their specific requirements and save on the time spent training workers. The number of workers required in the industry is estimated to go up 10-fold to 25 million. Of this, a tenth, or about 2.5 million workers, are likely to be directly employed in the industry in shopfloor positions such as machinists and technicians.
India Flying High: The mega carrier being created by merging Air India and Indian Airlines - National Aviation Co. Ltd (NACL) - will begin its first direct non-stop Indo-US flight on August 1. While AI and IA have placed orders for 111 new generation planes, their aging fleet would get 25 new Boeing and Airbus by this year-end. In 2006, the aviation industry witnessed a growth of nearly 50% with 16 million passengers buying around 30 million seats. Projected figutes indicate that over 70 million passengers are expected to fly by 2010.
Indian mangoes go to USA and Japan too: After the US, India has started exporting mangoes to Japan with the first consignment of one tonne of Banganpalli mangoes from Tirupati sent to Tokyo. It will be through mango-growers cooperatives and involve women’s Self Help Group to ensure that farmers get better price for their produce.
India as destination: IT solutions and software provider 3i Infotech launched a new Global Development Centre (GDC) in Chennai. The centre will focus on enhancement and development of the company’s flagship insurance solution ‘Premia’ and banking solution ‘Kastle’.
Manufacturing too flourishing: Wärtsilä Corporationhas received an order for six turnkey
India ahead of China’s offshore market: China’s push to become an alternate off shoring hub for MNCs tackling soaring wages and high attrition rate in India remains a distant dream as its market is developing slower than expected. Despite massive government support and huge visibility on the global arena, China’s offshore market has not taken off as expected and still has a long way to become a potential alternative to India, according to technology research firm Forrester.
Europe convinced: Some, if not all West European Governments are gradually realising that offshoring and offshore outsourcing is not a choice for Europe - it is a fact. Corporate Europe is already gearing up. Europe’s top 500 companies could potentially save Euro 50 billion annually, or almost Euro 100 million on average per company, by offshoring many of their back-office activities.
Biopharma growing: In India, biopharma, the largest segment of biotech, grew by 32% to $1 billion in 2005-06. The domestic biotech sector is growing at a CAGR of 35%, and is expected to touch $5 billion by 2009-10, according to estimates. The focus area of leading companies such as Biocon, Dr Reddy’s, Panacea, Shantha Biotech, Workhardt and Zydus, is vaccines and bio-generics. Sweetening India: Sugar production of India, the world’s second largest producer after Brazil, is all set to touch 27 million tonnes in 2006-07 season with output already crossing 26 million tonnes till 15 May. The sugar production in 2005-06 season stood at 19.3 million tonnes. Sugar year runs from October to September
And the cement industry: The demand for cement in the country is projected to go up to 200 million tonne a year by 2010 from 149 million tonne at present, by which time the capacity will have risen to 240 million tonne a year from the current 165. Indians excel: Indian-born Srinivasa SR Varadhan on Tuesday accepted the Norwegian Abel Prize, known as the ‘Nobel Prize for mathematics’. King Harald presented the award worth 6 million kroner ($920,000) at a ceremony in Oslo.
are now flirting intimately a combined market capitalisation of $1 trillion.
Exemplary Telecom sector: With an addition of 5.15 million wireless subscribers in April, the total telephone users are now 212.02 million, the world’s fourth biggest and tele-density is 18.74%. Total broadband connections in the country has reached 2.43 million by the end of April with an addition of 0.13 million connections during the month, compared to 0.09 million added during March, a growth of 5.65%. India has many ‘firsts’ to showcase in global telephoney. Just this calendar year, India has had the distinction of having the world’s lowest call rates (40 paise), the fastest growth in the number of subscribers (15.31 million in 4 months), the fastest sale of a million mobile phones (1 week), the world’s cheapest mobile handset (Rs 777) and the world’s most affordable colour phone (Rs 1,234).Roaming tariffs are slashed by 50% and call rates are as low as 40 paise, as against Rs 12 in the UK, Rs 2.5 in Sri Lanka and Rs 7 West Asia. Reliance Communications launched the world’s cheapest phone at Rs 777. In Sri Lanka, a handset costs a minimum Rs 4,000. In most other countries, the minimum price for a handset is $80 (Rs 3,200).

India in 2025: According to recent study from McKinsey Global Institute, India’s market will be the world’s fifth largest by 2025 from the current ranking at 12 surpassing Germany. And the middle class will have grown almost 12 times, from 50 million today to 583 million. Over 23 million Indians-more than the population of Australia today-will number among the country’s wealthiest citizens. Simultaneously, the deprived segment will drop from 54 per cent of the population in 2005 to 22 per cent by 2025.

Superlative Performing Indian IT players: The top five suppliers of offshore product design services (PDS) are large Indian IT companies and account for more than 60 per cent of the market, according to a newly-released ARC advisory group services report. The offshore PDS market is set to grow by 28 per cent annually, and is estimated to be over $4.1 billion business in 2011.
India becoming
outsourcing hub for market research (MR): While most of the global firms like Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS), MarketTools and Greenfieldonline are operating large captives in India, many Indian companies are gearing up to tap opportunities in market research outsourcing. India today has about 15 MR firms including large ones like Ugam Solutions, Annik Systems, Cross-Tab and Markelytics. Even BPO firms like WNS and knowledge process outsourcing firm like eValueserve are significantly involved in MR.
According to a study released by Evalueserve, India’s top Knowledge Process Outsourcing firm, Indian KPOs will generate nearly 280,000 jobs and up to $11-12 billion as revenues by 2010. India Business Outsourcing sector is moving towards high in many areas, be it legal services, financial analysis and report, publishing, engineering services, product or architectural designs, or R&D.
India IT companies to hire 1 lakh :
India’s top five software companies plan to add 1,00,000 this fiscal year on top of a record 76,500 new employees who joined these companies last year. Private Sector: RIL FY’07 turnover crosses $25 billion mark RIL, India’s most valued firm with a market cap of over $50 billion, has become the first private entity to cross the 25 billion dollar revenue mark.

Corporates have lined up investment worth $400 billion, and are treating human resources as precious commodity. While Tata Motors are having effective alliance with Italian giant Fiat, Mahindra and Mahindra is working with Nissan and Renaults in a facility with an investment of Rs 4,000 crore.

Indian consumers will soon have one of the cheapest mobile phones in the world, priced at Rs 777 ($19), while Tata Motors are trying to produce entry level passenger car at Rs 1 lakh. According to estimates while the number of Indian subscribers for cell phones will go above 250 million, the sales of passenger vehicles will be exceed that in Germany by 2010.
The personal computer market is set to grow by 22 per cent in this financial year and may record sales of 6.5 million units. The Indian information technology and related services (IT/ITeS) industry is predicted to become a $100 billion plus industry by 2011, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18 per cent, according to an IDC report.

Thee organized retail sector will triple in size from Rs 35,000 crore in 2004-05 to Rs 1,09,000 crore by 2010. Reliance, Aditya Birla Group, and Bharati with Wal-mart will be major players, reliance retails alone aims to recruit over five lakh employees by 2010.

All village panchayats in Kerala would soon have their own custom-made web portals with all the information relating to the panchayat in Malayalam. Akshaya, a Kerala government initiative for cent percent e-literacy in the state, is all set to implement a pilot project to establish panchayat-level web portals with people’s participation in select panchayats of Kannur district with financial and technical assistance from Unesco.

Indian expressways are getting six-lanes. Aviation industry is booming. Indians are becoming major spenders abroad besides acquiring big companies. Railways are investing in upgradtion of technology. and six per cent respectively felt positive about Brazil and Russia.
White Revolution continues: Indian dairy industry. will reach Rs5.20 lakh crore by 2011. “Out of the anticipated output of 120 million tonnes, the share of liquid milk will be 97.5 million tonnes, while the remaining 22.5 million tonnes will get converted into milk products.”
Manufacturing Sector Moving in top gear: India’s manufacturing sector register ed the highest growth in over a decade at 14.1 per cent in March 2007, up from 10.1 per cent in the same month of the previous year, the commerce and industry ministry said Tuesday. The growth rate of the sector has doubled since 2002-03 from six per cent to 12.3 per cent in 2006-07.
Sky-High Ambitions of Indian Outsourcers: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has worked on projects for GE Aviation involving digitally testing the configuration of jet designs and is currently designing the business class portion of a plane for an undisclosed aviation customer. Tata Technologies hopes to leverage the expertise of its parent company to reduce the cost and weight of airline components for international customers. Infosys has designed part of the Airbus A380 super jumbo jet, which is now undergoing test flights. Last year it set up an engineering center to team with Spirit Aerosystems (SPR), a major supplier of structures including fuselage, nose sections, and floor beams.
India’s Global raid continues: Billionaire Vijay Mallya’s distillery group agreed to buy Scottish liquor maker Whyte & Mackay for 595 million pounds ($1.18 billion, Rs4, 700 crore), extending a record year for international takeovers by Indian companies. Mallya formed United Spirits by combining McDowell & Co, Shaw Wallace & Co, Herbertsons and other liquor makers of the group. The company, with 145 brands and 69 factories, became the world’s third largest spirits company after Diageo and Pernod Ricard. Today’s acquisition of Whyte & Mackay promises to enhance Mallaya’s position in the Forbes’ list of billionaires, which placed him 746th in 2006.

Mumbai’s famed diamond district of opera house becoming a global diamond-trading hub: Indians are becoming integrated global players, involved in the entire supply chain right from sourcing of the gems to retailing finished
India. The company could in fact look at turning India into a hub for its customer support services eventually.
4.Indian expatriates returning to work on R&D: According to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), there are already over 250 Indian expatriates who have returned to work on R&D in domestic automobile companies Mahindra & Mahindra, Ashok Leyland, Tata Motors and Hindustan Motors. SIAM predicts that their numbers will double in two years. With investments of over Rs 100,000 crore lined up in the Indian automobile industry, and European and US car majors making an aggressive push into India, Indian car companies have begun to understand the significance of R&D.

Textile sector invests tons: India’s textile sector is expected to attract investment of Rs 150,600 crore in the next five years and will achieve the export target of Rs 225,665 crore (55 billion dollars) by 2012. The industry that is growing by 9-10 per cent would increase to 16 per cent in the coming years.
India getting benchmarked: Nissan Motor Co, Japan’s third-largest automaker, is designing a $2,500 car to compete in India with the low-cost model planned by Tata Motors, Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn said. “We are working on how we can make a car for $2,500,” Ghosn told reporters today at a dinner in Versailles, France. A Nissan advance engineering group is doing the study,” he said..

Is not India bubbling?.
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Acquiring World over: Sun Pharmaceutical Industries acquires Israel-based Taro Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, a multinational generic manufacturer, in an all cash deal for $454 million (Rs1, 844 crore). Rural Connectivity improving fast: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pledged Rs 480 billion to dramatically step up its spending on roads in rural areas for a four-year project ending in 2009 to connect 66,000 villages.
India’s talent crunch myth: Only 9 per cent of Indian employers found it difficult to fill positions because of lack of suitable talent as against 41 per cent of employers worldwide. Additonally, as biomass-fuelled power plants from German-based company Bayernfonds BestEnergy 1 GmbH & Co. KG in April for a total value of approximately euro 100 million.
NXP (Next eXPerience) Semiconductors, the new semiconductor company founded by Philips, is partnering with mobile communication service provider Reliance Communications (RCom) to bring out low cost handsets in India. The price of the handset could be around Rs 800 ($20) with features such as colour display, MP3 player and FM radio.
Arham in Sriperumbudur: Arham Plastics has commissioned a new plant in Sriperumbudur, primarily to meet demand accruing from increased requirements of Korean auto major Hyundai. Arham will be thereby doubling its auto components production capacity,
India Fusion research becomes neighbour’s envy: “The Indian programme is very ambitious. I believe $130 million has been spent by the Indian government for this kind of research while we have spent just $30 million so far,” said Song Tao Wu, the deputy director general at the China’s Institute of Plasma Physics.
IT goes superfast: India’s IT exports are growing at more than 30% annually and are expected to cross $50 billion in early 2008. Indian enterprises are expected to invest Rs 8,974 crore on information technology (IT) in FY08 - an increase of 26% when compared with the FY07 expenditure of Rs 7,123 crore. However, IT still has miles to go before it catches up with global giants in terms of productivity. An American IT professional contributes nearly ten times higher to the company’s turnover than his Indian counterpart.
Entry-level salaries increase: Major IT firms and even some mid-size ones have increased their entry-level compensation packages by 10-16 per cent, as competition intensifies to attract the best talent from campuses. TCS is offering annual salaries ranging between Rs 2.7 lakh and Rs 3.3 lakh, depending on the colleges and course streams. Wipro is contemplating a 10-15 per cent hike in freshers’ salaries. For graduates joining in 2007, it had offered Rs 2.4-2.7 lakh per annum. The Infosys compensation package for graduates joining in 2007 stood at Rs 2.75 lakh per annum.

Harjit Gill of Dakoha village in Punjab made history by taking over as the 527th mayor of the city of Gloucester in England. He is the first Asian to be mayor of the historic city - famous for its docks, the 1300-year-old Gloucester Cathedral of Saint Peter’s and, lately the locale of the first Harry Potter film.
Indian artists going rich: Indian artists never had it so good - an auction of modern and contemporary Indian art here including those by masters like M F Husain, Francis Newton Souza and Tyeb Mehta - has fetched a fabulous $ 8.809 million. The auction was held by the Christie’s last evening and the highest price of £ 720,000 went for Syed Haider Raza’s La Terre (1985).

India in space: “The Chandrayaan-1 mission is making substantial progress.” The CARTOSAT-2 satellite launched in January this year has special cameras that have a resolution of less than one metre, and is being used for detailed map development applications and disaster management activities. The successful launch of INSAT-4B that has 24 DTH transponders has been a major milestone. The EDUSAT, a satellite dedicated to education, has connected around 10,000 classrooms, benefiting rural and remote areas. Other achievements are the pathbreaking demonstration of the capability to recover an orbiting satellite through the Space Recovery Experiment, the successful ground testing of the indigenously developed cryogenic stage for the Geo-Stationary Satellite Launch Vehicle, and the demonstration of the Supersonic Combustion Ramjet required for advanced rocket systems. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Chandrayaan-1 Retail on move: Aditya Birla group announced an investment of Rs8,000-9,000 crore over the next five years to start a retail chain. Bharti, Reliance, and Aditya Birla Retail Ltd (ABRL, the name of the group’s company in the retail business) enter the $300 billion (Rs12.3 lakh crore) Indian retail market. According to Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which will partner Bharti in a wholesale venture, store chains currently account for 4% of retail sales, but this number is set to increase to 35% by 2015. Billion Club Expanding: From January this year until now, at least 20 companies now have a market capitalisation of $1 billion taking total number of publicly traded Indian companies with a market cap of $1 billion each to 146 from just 98 companies a year ago. The Indian stock markets increase in listed companies - outpacing global names such as NYSE, Nasdaq and London Stock Exchange. “When the history of our time in office is written, I am confident the great strategic leap forward in cementing the Indo-US strategic partnership will count among the most important accomplishments of Presidents (George W) Bush and (Bill) Clinton with Prime Minister (Manmohan) Singh and his predecessors”. Nicholas Burns, US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs This is booming and bubbling India.

About the Author:

Indra Roy Sharma, better known to his acquaintances as 'IR Sharma' or 'Indra' graduated in Mechanical Engineering from IIT, Kharagpur in 1961. Indra worked with Hindustan Motors for almost 37 years and retired after working as General Manager, Corporate Project Planning in 1997. He also worked as President, Harig Crankshafts Ltd as its President till he underwent heart surgery in 2000. He presently keeps himself busy with his blog www.drishtikona.com. 'Booming and bubbling India" is a series that he publishes on his blog every Monday.