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India’s Economy in Retrospect: 10,000 runs and counting…
Samvit Tandom
Short Essay
Question: What do Sachin Tendulkar and the SENSEX have in common?
Answer: If you guessed that they are both based in Bombay (now Mumbai), you’re spot on. But, there’s more……
Answer: If you guessed that they are both based in Bombay (now Mumbai), you’re spot on. But, there’s more……
I recently read an article in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ; Feb. 7, pg. c14), that Bombay’s SENSEX (sensitive index) had crossed the 10,000 mark. This is a first in the country’s history. Of late, India has been on the lips and minds of many a western politician and newspaper, and for good reason. With a booming economy (growing at 7.5%), and a Question: What do Sachin Tendulkar and the SENSEX have in common?
Answer: If you guessed that they are both based in Bombay (now Mumbai), you’re spot on. But, there’s more…… massive and widespread NRI (non-resident Indian) diaspora, it is beginning to gain the sort of attention it deserves. Last February the National Geographic magazine contained an eighteen page article on Bollywood (written by Suketu Mehta, , a Pulitzer Prize finalist for his “Maximum City.”). In early December of 2005, the New York Times ran a week-long special online section of India’s rapid development juxtaposed against the backdrop of rural poverty. More recently, the Wall Street Journal ran a cover article in their “Pursuits” section (Feb. 4-5 weekend edition) with the headline, “A Passage to India’s Future.” And, in the latest Newsweek (Feb. 27), prolific foreign affairs writer Fareed Zakaria called India “a rising and responsible global power” while discussing the agenda ahead of George Bush’s imminent
Answer: If you guessed that they are both based in Bombay (now Mumbai), you’re spot on. But, there’s more…… massive and widespread NRI (non-resident Indian) diaspora, it is beginning to gain the sort of attention it deserves. Last February the National Geographic magazine contained an eighteen page article on Bollywood (written by Suketu Mehta, , a Pulitzer Prize finalist for his “Maximum City.”). In early December of 2005, the New York Times ran a week-long special online section of India’s rapid development juxtaposed against the backdrop of rural poverty. More recently, the Wall Street Journal ran a cover article in their “Pursuits” section (Feb. 4-5 weekend edition) with the headline, “A Passage to India’s Future.” And, in the latest Newsweek (Feb. 27), prolific foreign affairs writer Fareed Zakaria called India “a rising and responsible global power” while discussing the agenda ahead of George Bush’s imminent
visit to New Delhi.
So what’s the fuss all about? I sit here, now into a decade since having left my home country, thinking back nostalgically of my youth in Bombay. In fact, just last summer vacation I was walking around Nariman Point, the southern tip of Bombay’s Marine Drive, searching for a travel agency with the Bombay Stock Exchange edifice hovering above. And now the Sensex has crossed 10,000. That WSJ article has caught me reflecting. We’re a passionate people. We lose one cricket match and everything comes crashing down. It’s gloom and doom all over again. We wear this extreme sense of patriotism on our sleeves and it applies to everything, including our assessment of our country. But on reflection I realize that India is perhaps a very young country still, and especially so when compared to the powerful United States. It has only been 60-odd years since she has been an independent country and when taking a bird’s eye-view, that’s actually a very small amount of time on a historical scale. In that time, India has done pretty well actually. So many times I’ve sat and lamented about India not being up to international standards in so many ways. But, I forget to include her short history in my perspective.
The British brought us many gains with respect to infrastructure and a democratic form of government, parliament et al. But since our independence in 1947, according to my venerable older compatriots, apparently we haven’t made much progress. I am young still, and my ability to reflect on India’s history post - independence in 1947, according to my
So what’s the fuss all about? I sit here, now into a decade since having left my home country, thinking back nostalgically of my youth in Bombay. In fact, just last summer vacation I was walking around Nariman Point, the southern tip of Bombay’s Marine Drive, searching for a travel agency with the Bombay Stock Exchange edifice hovering above. And now the Sensex has crossed 10,000. That WSJ article has caught me reflecting. We’re a passionate people. We lose one cricket match and everything comes crashing down. It’s gloom and doom all over again. We wear this extreme sense of patriotism on our sleeves and it applies to everything, including our assessment of our country. But on reflection I realize that India is perhaps a very young country still, and especially so when compared to the powerful United States. It has only been 60-odd years since she has been an independent country and when taking a bird’s eye-view, that’s actually a very small amount of time on a historical scale. In that time, India has done pretty well actually. So many times I’ve sat and lamented about India not being up to international standards in so many ways. But, I forget to include her short history in my perspective.
The British brought us many gains with respect to infrastructure and a democratic form of government, parliament et al. But since our independence in 1947, according to my venerable older compatriots, apparently we haven’t made much progress. I am young still, and my ability to reflect on India’s history post - independence in 1947, according to my
