Written by Liliane MOKBEL
What is India? People in the Middle East know little about this country. And when they do, they do not know the glaring truth.
Unfortunately Media tends to focus on its bad aspects. In one word, India is a business-friendly country. Lots of changes have happened on social, economical and political scenes over the past ten years. It is worth talking about its new paradigm. India is an amazing country whose history, rituals, customs and habits are particular and deserve to be discovered.
India is special in a way that is difficult to express. It is a full feeling of reveries and mysteries -- a completely different world where people are extremely warm, always
ready to serve beyond and cheerful.
"Everything has its beauty but not everyone sees it", says Conficius.
The Indian ministry of External affairs took the initiative to invite 22 senior journalists coming from about ten countries from the Middle East and North Africa ( Mena Region) spending eight days between New Delhi, Agra and Hyderabad in order to familiarize themselves with the mind set of India.
The Indian authorities put forth efforts to let every member of the delegation assesses the ins and outs of this country. In keeping with the Indian goal, the program of our stay was a bunch of stops of business meetings and touristic promenades.
Strong economic fundamentals
Nowadays, India is the place to be - companies either plan to put down roots or spread into new territories.
It is a fertile area, the fruit of many years of careful planning lead by Indian government. Many factors make the Indian economy very dynamic.
Macroeconomic policies promote smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. And it is what makes the difference.
"First step at the milestone of reforms agenda to be applied was the decision of the government in 2013 relaxing Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) norms in several sectors, including telecom, defense, PSU oil refineries, power exchanges and stock exchanges, among others", said Gurpal Singh, principal advisor and head Gulf, MENA regions at Confederation of Indian industry (CII).
"India's FDI policy has been gradually liberalized to make the market more investor friendly", Singh added.
The results have been encouraging. The country is consistently ranked among the top three global investment destinations by all international bodies, including the World Bank, according to a United Nations (UN) report.
For an economy like India which has tremendous potential, FDI has a positive impact. FDI inflows supplement domestic capital, as well as technology and skills of existing companies and contribute to push upwards economic growth. The most important thing consists in the fact that this decision might be updated every year to capture and keep pace with the conjuncture changes.
"We count on media to spread the word about what is positively happening in India", commented M. Singh, wishing that "in coming years cooperation would be enforced between south countries medias in order to unveil the truth to people over the world. People don't have to listen to one source of information which would give their own point of view".
Summing up India's government vision External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid stated : "Here in India, we have our own style. We don't want to copy anyone".
Indeed, the government is supporting and encouraging cluster ecosystem in every city of the country depending on their sectoral advantages. This support is contributing for a large part on maintaining a steady growth in spite of the worldwide slowdown. And this is one of the strength of the Indian economic fundamentals. The growth rate was about 3,3% last year and it expects to reach 5,1% in 2014.
According to Bidisha Ganguly, consultant at CII, all through the recession analysts talked about "the green shoots of recovery". It is worth noting also that the spending of public private partnerships is expected to stand for $1 trilllion by 2017.
The depth of the consumption market
Firstly, the domestic market is huge as it counts one billion two hundred million of potential consumers. As a matter of fact, the country will be Asia's fastest growing exporter and importer in five years. The clue is that India is a country that you cannot ignore if you are in any kind of business with a vibrant, cash rich middle class.
Furthermore, the household basket consumption includes today 24 items from 12 nine years ago, according to Ms Gunguly. The sign of the scale and the depth of the domestic market is the total rural income estimated presently at $572 billion and expected to be 1.8 trillion by 2020-2021. The cash young middle class has new aspirations and is more demanding in terms of well-being, keeping in mind that India is a nation of 1.2 billion people with median age of 24 years.
The HSBC Trade Confidence Index, the largest trade confidence survey in the world, has positioned India at the top with 142 points. The increasing demand due to its population makes the country a good market for consumption goods, according to the report.
India branded industries
India is known as "the pharmacy of the world". Indeed Indian pharmaceutical industry is the largest exporter of generic formulations in volume terms globally. Exploring the premises of Ranbaxy Laboratories in Gurgaon and talking to the scientists you instantly understand that quality and patients come first.
Credibility, affordability and sustainability are the key driver even more the corporate mission of this India branded industry. Ranbaxy product portfolio includes over 500 molecules. In 2008, the India branded laboratory did a big step introducing a hybrid business model, which combines the strengths of a global generic company (Ranbaxy) and a top global innovator (the Japanese company Daiichi Sankyo). This alliance stems to developing India's first New Chemical Entity, "Synriam", a new cure for malaria. The drug was lunch in 2012.
In the field of IT industry, India is a pioneer. The Indian branded leader in this industry is Tata. In Hyderabad, the Tata venue was highly under surveillance. The group has well-established enterprises in the fields of software and other information systems, telecommunications and industrial automation. It has operations in more than 100 countries across six continents, and its companies export products and services to 150 countries.
The total revenue of Tata companies, taken together, was $96.79 billion in 2012-13, with 62.7 percent of this coming from business outside India. Tata companies employ over 540,000 people worldwide. Worth noting that India is the global leader in the information technology (IT)-business process outsourcing (BPO) industry with half of the world's back office being located in the country. In fact, the Indian outsourcing revenue at US$ 59 billion for 2011 accounts for 51 % of the global offshore market share, as per a report by Tholons Research. Further, the total direct employment by Indian IT-BPO sector (as of 2011) was 1.98 million and indirect employment was 7.5 million.
Film industry or business film
When you come to Hyderabad you cannot avoid visiting the landmark of thematic leisure tourism, "Ramoji Film City". It is only one hour drive from the center of Hyderabad. It has been recognized by the Guinness World Record as the world's largest film city.
"Romoji Film City" is the perfect gateway with the magic of cinema whose heavenly charm is unraveled in every aspect of this thematic destination. The city is a haven for filmmaking. A filmmaker can walk in with the script and walk out with a ready-to-show film.
The Indian film industry is the largest in the world and not Hollywood film industry. In this spirit and in order to ease formalities and attract more producers, for a case of point, government of Delhi introduce a single window clearances.
Last but not least, the picks of time of the journalists were their visits to the most worldwide known heritage sites in India as Red fort of Delhi, Taj Mahal of Agra and Golconda fort of Hyderabad. At this latter place, the journalists attended a light and sound show which brought you centuries ago highlighting the history of this monument. In one sentence the charm of India is legendary. There, tourists do not need any guide. Every Indian met on the way is enable to tell you the history of his country as their roots are anchored in their blood.
It is enough to mention the official expectations concerning the rising number of billionaire to trigger the curiosity to explore this country. The super rich people would make up 225 by 2020 from 122 in 2012.India is a country to follow.
