Guest guest Posted August 19, 2003 Report Share Posted August 19, 2003 "Our foreign exchange reserves are at an all-time high$82 billion. We have announced that we will not be taking aid from a string of countries. " We are giving aid to 10 or 11 countries. " We are pre-paying our debt. "We have just loaned$300 million to the IMF!" >[bJP News] Listen to the new India >Mon, 18 Aug 2003 18:56:21 -0700 (PDT) > >Before the whining drowns it out, listen to the new India >By Arun Shourie >Indian Express >August 15, 2003 > >http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=29666 > >Twenty to twenty-five years ago, even 10 years ago, few of us had heard of >Information Technology. Today, exports from this industry are worth $10 >billion that is, over Rs 45,000 crore a year. That figure is 20 per cent >of our total exports. > >In spite of the fact that each of the markets to which we supply IT >software and solutions has been in the trough of recession for years, IT >exports have grown by 26 per cent this year. > >Infosys had not even been born 25 years ago. Wipro was a company selling >vegetable oil. Indeed, other than the Tatain Tata Consultancy Services, >there is scarcely a name in the IT industry that was known then. > >And guess what the average age is in the industry? Just 26 and a half! >These 26/27-year-olds have changed the worlds perception of India. Its not >just a country of snake-charmers, its a country against which >protectionist walls have to be erected. Of course, we can also charm >snakes. > >And not just, to pluck a phrase of Malcolm Muggeridge, snakes in >snakesclothing! > >And these 26-year-olds are changing Indias perception also of itself: that >India can; that, therefore, we should face the world with confidence. > >That is the situation in activity after activity. We lament the fact that, >while we are ahead in software, we have lost out to China in IT hardware. >That is true as of the moment. We shooed away firms like Motorola when >they approached us in the early 1990s for facilities to set up >manufacturing operations in India. China welcomed them, it wooed them, it >created every conceivable facility for hardware firms from Japan, of >course, but also from Taiwan, a country at which 400 of its missiles are >aimed. It has thereby leapt ahead. > >But the game is hardly over. That world-class hardware can be produced in >India is evident. How many of us would have heard of Moser-Baer? Located >in unprepossessing Noida, it is the worlds third largest optical media >manufacturer, and the lowest-cost producer of CD-Recorders. Its exports >are close to Rs 1,000 crore. > >The firm sells data-storage products to seven of the worlds top 10 CD-R >producers. And it produces them so efficiently that, to shield themselves, >European competitors had to file an anti-dumping case to stop and penalise >its exports to Europe. Moser-Baer fought on its own. And won. > >A firm most of us have not heard of. A firm that is manufacturing products >at the cutting edge of technology. A firm exporting Rs 1,000 crore of >products that require the utmost precision and technological >sophistication. A firm that European firms fear. > >And equally important the very international fora that our ideologues >shout are instruments of exploitation hold against European firms, and in >favour of this Indian firm. > >There is more. Moser-Baer has acquired Capco Luxembourg, a firm that owns >49 per cent of a Netherlands-based CD-R distributor. And it has set up >Glyphics Media Inc. in the United Statesfor markets in North and South >America. And here we are being made to shiver at the thought that foreign >firms are about to swallow us! > >Heard of Tandon Electronics? Its exports of electronic hardware are close >to Rs 4,000 crore! > >At a moments notice, my friends Amit Mitra of FICCI and Tarun Das of CII >send me particulars of firm after firm, in sector after sector, that has >broken new ground. A sample: > >" Fifteen of the worlds major automobile manufacturers are now obtaining >components from Indian firms. > >" Just last year, exports of auto-components were $375 million. This year >they are close to $1.5 billion. Estimates indicate they will reach $15 >billion within six to seven years. > >" Hero Honda is now the largest manufacturer of motorcycles in the >worldwith an output of 17 lakh motorcycles a year. > >" One lakh Indica cars of the Tatas are to be marketed in Europe by Rover, >one of the United Kingdoms most prestigious auto-manufacturers under its >that is, Rovers brand name. > >" Bharat Forge has the worlds largest single-location forging facility of >1.2 lakh tonnes per annum. Its client list includes Toyota, Honda, Volvo, >Cummins, Daimler Chrysler. It has been chosen as a supplier of small >forging parts for Toyotas global transmission partssourcing hub in >Bangalore. > >" Asian Paints has production facilities in 22 countries spread across >five continents. It has recently acquired Berger International, which >gives it access to 11 countries, and SCIB Chemical SAE in Egypt. Asian >Paints is the market leader in 11 of the 22 countries in which it is >present, including India. > >" Hindustan Inks has the worlds largest single stream, fully integrated >ink plant, of 1 lakh tonnes per annum capacity, at Vapi, Gujarat. It has a >manufacturing plant and a 100 per cent subsidiary in the US. It has >another 100 per cent subsidiary in Austria. > >" For two years running, General Motors has awarded Sundaram Clayton its >Best Supplier Award; the volumes it sources out of India are growing every >year. > >" Ford has presented the Gold World Excellence Awardto Cooper Tyres. > >" Essel Propack is the worlds largest laminated tube manufacturer. It has >a manufacturing presence in 11 countries including China, a global >manufacturing share of 25 per cent, and caters to all of P&Gs laminated >tube requirements in the US, and 40 per cent of Unilevers. > >" Aston Martin, one of the worlds most expensive car brands, has >contracted prototyping its latest luxury sports car to an India-based >designer. This would be the cheapest car to roll out of Aston Martins >stable. > >" Maruti has been the preferred supplier of small cars under the Suzuki >brand for Europe. Suzuki has now decided to make India its manufacturing, >export and research hub outside Japan. > >" Hyundai Motors India is about to become the parent Hyundai Motors >Corporations global small car hub. In 2003, HMC will source 25,000 Santros >from HMIs plant in India. By 2010 HMI is targeted to supply half a million >cars to HMC. > >It was only in 1999 that HMI got its first outsourcing contract and >already, in 2003, 20 per cent of its sales will be what it supplies as an >outsourcing hub. It is exporting cars to Indonesia, Algeria, Morocco, >Columbia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. > >" Ford India got its first outsourcing contract in 2000. Within 3 years >outsourcing accounts for 35 per cent of its sales. Ford India supplies to >Mexico, Brazil and China. The parent Ford is sourcing close to $40 million >worth of components from India, and plans to increase these in the coming >years. > >Ford India is already the sole manufacturing and supply base for Ikon cars >and components. These are being exported to Mexico, China and Africa. > >" Toyota Kirloskar Motors chose India over competitive destinations like >Philippines and China for setting up a new project to source transmissions >as this option proved more economical. > >" Europes leading tractor maker, Renault, has chosen International >Tractors (ITL) as its sole global sourcing hub for 40 to 85 horsepower >tractors. > >" Tyco Electronics India bagged its first outsourcing contract in 1998-99. >So successful has it been that components and products others have >contracted from it already account for 50 per cent of its total sales. It >supplies to the parent, Tyco Europe. > >" TISCO is today the lowest cost producer of hot-rolled steel in the >world. > >" TVS Motor Company has been awarded the coveted Deming Prize for Total >Quality Management. Many of the largest of organisations, even American >oneslike GEhave not managed that recognition yet! > >Indias pharmaceutical industry has come to be feared as much as its >infotech industry. It is already worth $ 6.5 billion and it has been >growing at 8-10 per cent a year. Its the fourth largest pharmaceutical >industry in terms of volumes and 13th in value. Its exports have crossed >$2 billion, and have increased by 30 per cent in the past five years. >India is among the top five manufacturers of bulk drugs. > >Even more telling is another figure. We are always being frightened, >Multinational drug companies are about to takeover.In 1971 the share of >these MNCs in the Indian market was 75 per cent. Today its 35 per cent! > >Theres another feature we should bear in mind: Indias strengths are >becoming evident across the technology spectrum: > >" We are among the three countries in the world that have built >supercomputers on their own, the US and Japan being the other two: two >months ago, the fourth generation PARAM super-computer was inaugurated in >Bangalore. > >" We are among six countries in the world that launch satellites. We >launch some of our own satellites of course; we have launched satellites >for others too, among them such countries as Germany and Belgium. We have >the largest set of remote sensing satellites. Our INSAT system is also >among the worlds largest domestic satellite communication systems. > >At the other end: > >" India is one of the worlds largest diamond cutting and polishing >centres. CLSA estimates nine of every 10 stones sold in the world pass >through India. > >" Trade of Indian medicinal plants has crossed Rs 4,000 crore. > >Here is proof positive that liberalisation has indeed worked. By opening >the economy before giving it a chance to become competitive, we have >thrown our industry to the wolves,it used to be said. Quite the contrary. >The success in exports, in fields such as IT in which competition is >fierce, in which technological change is fast as lightning, success in >auto-components, in pharmaceuticals shows that our industry has fought >back, it has become competitive. > >Remember all that shouting about Chinese batteries a year ago? Markets are >closing down, thousands are being thrown out of their meagre businesses, >factory after factory has shut down.That was the shouting just a few >months ago. > >Where are those batteries from China? Yes, trade with China has grownby >104% in the past year. But according to figures of the Chinese Government, >in the first five months of 2003, India has amassed a surplus in its trade >with China, a surplus of close to half a billion dollars. > >And China is just an instance. Exports as a whole, and in the face of an >unrelenting recession in the West, have grown by 19 per cent in the year. >In a word, what committees upon committees with their piles of >recommendations would not have achieved, being actually exposed to actual >competition has. > >Our foreign exchange reserves are at an all-time high$82 billion. We have >announced that we will not be taking aid from a string of countries. > >" We are giving aid to 10 or 11 countries. >" We are pre-paying our debt. >"We have just loaned$300 million to the IMF! > >How distant the days when we used to wait anxiously for the announcement >about what the Aid India Club meeting in Paris had decided to give us. > >But there is the other sideequally telling. Why is it that so few among us >know even the elementary facts about these successes? Why is it that so >much of public, specifically political, discourse, when it is not whining >is just wailing? > > > _______________ <b>Get MSN 8</b> and enjoy automatic e-mail virus protection. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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