Yuppies have been one of the central characters of the well-chronicled "India Shining" story. No account of the country's economic surge would be complete without glowing references to record salary increments, unheard of perks and a massive consumer spend fuelled by the emergence of the rich twenty something professional. The brightest, smartest, wealthiest and the youngest of footloose Indian executives – mostly living in big cities and swanky offices – hog all the limelight and make it to glossy magazine covers. We've been swamped by heady accounts of freshly minted Bschool grad and IITians striking it rich or of compulsive IT and BPO job hoppers who manage to nearly double their salary with every move.
But in reality, white-collar workers or those in supervisory, non-manual jobs are very different from the popular mediahyped imagery. Contrary to the stereotypes, most of the white-collar employees are over 35, and have put in almost 12 years in the profession. And anybody who spends at least five years in a job won't qualify as a job hopper. Half of the whitecollar workers are plain graduates drawing an average monthly salary of Rs 13,000. Around 70 per cent belong to single-income households and an equally big number of them come from non-metro cities.
Just when you may have decided to switch off on this strange breed, here's what might sound familiar – 8 out of 10 want to change job in the next six months - salary being the biggest grouse.
For the world, white-collar workers in India have a glamorised face often referenced to signal the surging fortunes of a nation on the rise. Dominant themes around fat salaries, multiplying job offers and global work environment for the jet-setting lot provide easy and dazzling imageries of a changing India.
In reality, the world of executives is changing – though not as fast and as dramatic. What's the real face of white-collar workers? Where and how do they livework ? What do they aspire for? Has the job-hopping bug hit all? Is salary 'The Factor'? The Corporate Dossier-Juxt-Consult, an online research arm of Indicus Analytics, conducted one of the largest studies to understand and unravel white-collar workers in India. With 16,500 respondents, covering 4,700 companies in 31 cities, the study has been designed to represent 160 million urban Indians.
They aren't as glossy as often perceived. The survey reveals a face that's middle-aged, conventional, stable, mostly graduates with a majority (8 out of 10) employed in the private sector. With 68 per cent living in non-metro cities and close to 46 per cent drawing a monthly salary of less than Rs 13,000, "their white collars appear greasy – not starched," says Sanjay Tiwari, director, JuxtConsult. Only one in eight are very well off having more than Rs 50,000 monthly income.
But that's a face that's changing dramaticall . In the next seven years, India is expected to add around eight million new workers every year – one in every four new worker in the world will come from India. This will happen at a time when the government's role is increasingly shrinking both as a job creator and attitude influencer in India's job market as private sector outpaces them. "Stable, 9-to-5 job with defined predictable career-paths - everything that defined a government job is getting redefined," says economist Laveesh Bhandari who also heads Indicus Analytics.
These shifting tendencies are already beginning to show.
While in one hand average white-collar workers (surveyed) have spent close to five years in their last job, a high 80 per cent say they will be open to or may consider a job change in the next six months and one in four aspire for ESOPs. The stability-loyalty on the surface is being stirred by a dramatic questioning of norms on the inside. If nothing, this shows a growing willingness to experiment across age, hierarchy and sectors. White-collar workers will change in many other ways. The entry-level age – of 23 years that the survey reveals – too is coming down with the younger generation. It is expected to settle around 20 years, experts say.
So far clerical jobs of accountants, general management, administration dominated the entire pool comprising 33 per cent of the total. Emerging but critical functions of the future like IT, HR, designing comprised barely 7 per cent, 3 per cent and 5 per cent respectively. As the services-led economy grows, some of these new upcoming functions will gain importance even as some of the old clerical jobs get eliminated due to automation and standardisation of processes. "Changing nature of economy will demand a new definition of white-collar workers," says Manish Sabharwal, chairman, TeamLease.
Communication skills, basic computer literacy – softer skills will become critical for gaining entry into this class. Madras University has made it mandatory for postgraduates to clear a course on soft skills. CII in partnership with BPO firms is helping train 250 teachers in Chennai for the course. After the pilots, the course will be made mandatory for the undergraduates as well.
There's another potential area of change in the SME segment. Forty per cent of the white-collar workers are from SMEs where productivity and efficiency levels are poor. The survey reveals that on an average, one senior manager manages only six white-collar workers, the ratio getting better with size. "I see that already changing," says B Santhanam, chairman, national committee (HR), CII.
Absence of processes and lack of standardisation means higher level of human intervention required – this is what explains the poor manager-worker ratio. Smaller companies, growing rapidly, are actively looking at automation and outsourcing of non-core functions to improve efficiency levels. "This is the only way they can handle growth, attrition and employee aspirations, they realise," says Santhanam.
Overall, only 30 per cent of the whitecollar worker households come from multiple income households (read working spouse). This dips further in the government and PSUs to 20 per cent of the families as against 33 per cent in the private . Further, most under Rs 20,000 income households are single income and the likelihood of it being multiple income rises as one moves up the economic ladder. Both the drivers for a working spouse – better incomes and more private sector jobs – will only strengthen in future.
But what doesn't seem to be changing is the geographical skew in jobs available for white-collar workers. So far it's the government and PSUs who have been the biggest creator of these jobs in the north and east whereas private sector has dominated the south and west India (66 per cent of the jobs). As the government vacates its role in larger number of economic sectors and private sector jobs outpaces them, this skew will intensify in future . "You will see lot of political reaction on issues like reservation etc going forward ," says Abheek Barua, chief economist , HDFC Bank.
Simply because a large chunk of new workers will come from the northern and eastern part of the country where fertility rates are still higher whereas more jobs will be created in the west and south. But remember, a large part of India's workforce will remain in the self-employed segment, warns Ajit Ranade, group chief economist, Aditya Birla Group. Poorer BIMARU states like UP and Bihar, with weak educational infrastructure and even weaker job prospects, are adding more workers.
The transition from blue to white will be a long and ardous journey.
Courtesy: Economic Times
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Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts
Friday, August 31, 2007
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
In London, more chronicled and more vibrant India at 60 forced little blood-brother into shadow!!
Pakistan was forced into the forlorn shadows even as it marked its 60th birthday, as British and European news coverage focused on Indian Independence day and "the arrival of a golden (Indian) age".
In an unusually thoughtful, if nuanced, nod to India's rise to prominence on the world stage, the former Raj marked the eve of Indian Independence Day with a paean to India, almost ignoring the fact that it was the 60th year of Pakistan's existence.
Mainstream British newspapers have been running 'India at 60' series, while The Times , London produced a special India supplement and The Guardian devoted its entire features pull-out to "The New India". The Guardian's India special's theme was expressed by its cover headline: "This is the best place in the world to be born right now".
Tuesday's India specials are the culmination of a fortnight-long focus on India by the British press.
They include The Independent 's attempt to answer the question, "60 years after Partition, why is India doing so much better than Pakistan?"
The paper said, "Now, at the age of 60, India's image is that of a resurgent, confident regional power racing to compete with China and the West. Meanwhile, Pakistan's image - at least in the West - is as a broken, backward country that provides a safe haven for extremists."
But in an acid corrective, it said these perceptions may not be entirely accurate. It pointed out that while India's "economy is currently growing at about nine per cent a year. Pakistan's is also growing.
One government minister said recently it was the third fastest-growing economy is Asia. Over the next four years it is expected to grow at about six per cent. The UN Human Development Index - which measures a series of economic and lifestyle indicators - ranks Pakistan 134th out of 177 and India 126th. In India and Pakistan, life expectancy is 63.6 and 63.4 years respectively, the adult literacy rates are 61 per cent and 49 per cent and the GDP figures are $3,139 and $2,225."
The Daily Telegraph , meanwhile, headlined the third part of its 'India at 60' series, "Independence has failed to reduce poverty". The piece quotes 60-ear-old Nanu Singh, "an almost toothless villager" on "what six decades of freedom and 20 years of economic growth had brought him... kuch-nahi ...I was a poor boy then, and I am still a poor man now."
The paper points out that "Without education or good health - 49 per cent of Indian children under six are malnourished, as can be seen from their stick-thin limbs and vacant stares - it is impossible to break the poverty trap."
The sobering assessment of India's astounding failures and equally eye-catching successes is seen to be typical of Britain and much of Europe's cautious optimism about 21st century India.
South Asia-watchers here point out that every Western article about India's remarkable rise is balanced by eye-watering accounts of its poverty, casteism, corruption, poor governance and the growing divide between rich and poor. But this, they say, is not necessarily a negative thing.
"There is no such thing as bad publicity," said one British academic, pointing to Pakistan's unmissable half-life as the country less chronicled than its bigger, more vibrant blood brother.
In an unusually thoughtful, if nuanced, nod to India's rise to prominence on the world stage, the former Raj marked the eve of Indian Independence Day with a paean to India, almost ignoring the fact that it was the 60th year of Pakistan's existence.
Mainstream British newspapers have been running 'India at 60' series, while The Times , London produced a special India supplement and The Guardian devoted its entire features pull-out to "The New India". The Guardian's India special's theme was expressed by its cover headline: "This is the best place in the world to be born right now".
Tuesday's India specials are the culmination of a fortnight-long focus on India by the British press.
They include The Independent 's attempt to answer the question, "60 years after Partition, why is India doing so much better than Pakistan?"
The paper said, "Now, at the age of 60, India's image is that of a resurgent, confident regional power racing to compete with China and the West. Meanwhile, Pakistan's image - at least in the West - is as a broken, backward country that provides a safe haven for extremists."
But in an acid corrective, it said these perceptions may not be entirely accurate. It pointed out that while India's "economy is currently growing at about nine per cent a year. Pakistan's is also growing.
One government minister said recently it was the third fastest-growing economy is Asia. Over the next four years it is expected to grow at about six per cent. The UN Human Development Index - which measures a series of economic and lifestyle indicators - ranks Pakistan 134th out of 177 and India 126th. In India and Pakistan, life expectancy is 63.6 and 63.4 years respectively, the adult literacy rates are 61 per cent and 49 per cent and the GDP figures are $3,139 and $2,225."
The Daily Telegraph , meanwhile, headlined the third part of its 'India at 60' series, "Independence has failed to reduce poverty". The piece quotes 60-ear-old Nanu Singh, "an almost toothless villager" on "what six decades of freedom and 20 years of economic growth had brought him... kuch-nahi ...I was a poor boy then, and I am still a poor man now."
The paper points out that "Without education or good health - 49 per cent of Indian children under six are malnourished, as can be seen from their stick-thin limbs and vacant stares - it is impossible to break the poverty trap."
The sobering assessment of India's astounding failures and equally eye-catching successes is seen to be typical of Britain and much of Europe's cautious optimism about 21st century India.
South Asia-watchers here point out that every Western article about India's remarkable rise is balanced by eye-watering accounts of its poverty, casteism, corruption, poor governance and the growing divide between rich and poor. But this, they say, is not necessarily a negative thing.
"There is no such thing as bad publicity," said one British academic, pointing to Pakistan's unmissable half-life as the country less chronicled than its bigger, more vibrant blood brother.
Source: TOI
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Saturday, August 04, 2007
Time celebrates India's awakening as a young giant
There is hardly a board-meeting finishes in the world without discussing India, and there is yet a lot to be done, Time comes up with an special article on the awakening of India ...the most prosperous economy of tomorrow!! Here is the gist sourced from economic times...
Sixty years after independence, India is beginning to deliver on its promise, "unleashing a torrent of growth and wealth creation that is transforming the lives of millions", says Time magazine in a special cover issue.
"India's economic clout is beginning to make itself felt on the international stage, as the nation retakes the place it held as a global-trade giant long before colonial powers ever arrived there," says the US magazine's Aug 13 issue.
The special issue on "A Young Giant Awakes" has articles looking at the country's middle class, religion, politics and the transformation of its economy, besides a write-up profiling the conflicts, trends and turning points that shaped modern India.
"Twenty years ago the rest of the world saw India as a pauper. Now it is just as famous for its software engineers, Bollywood movie stars, literary giants and steel magnates," notes Time.
"It is worth remembering this as India aspires to superpower status, economic futurologists all agree that China and India during the 21st century will come to dominate the global economy," says William Dalrymple, author of "The Last Mughal: The Fall of a Dynasty, Delhi 1857".
"Various intelligence agencies estimate that China will overtake the US between 2030 and 2040 and India will overtake the US by roughly 2050, as measured in dollar terms. Measured by purchasing-power parity, India is already on the verge of overtaking Japan to become the third largest economy in the world," he says.
"Today, things are slowly returning to historical norms. Last year the richest man in the UK was for the first time an ethnic Indian, Lakshmi Mittal, and Britain's largest steel manufacturer, Corus, has been bought by an Indian company, Tata.
"Extraordinary as it is, the rise of India and China is nothing more than a return to the ancient equilibrium of world trade, with Europeans no longer appearing as gun-toting, gunboat-riding colonial masters but instead reverting to their traditional role - that of eager consumers of the much celebrated manufactures, luxuries and services of the East," says Dalrymple.
Another article notes how real estate prices have skyrocketed in India. A 2006 study by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and professional-services firm Ernst & Young found that total revenue from sales of commercial and residential property throughout India had grown 30 percent a year for the previous three years.
Land prices in some areas have tripled in value since 2004, while office rents in Mumbai and New Delhi are now more expensive than those in Paris, Hong Kong or midtown Manhattan, Time says citing a 2007 survey by real estate consultant CB Richard Ellis.
"Yet the boom may still have room to run. Merrill Lynch forecasts India's property industry will grow to $90 billion by 2015, up from $12 billion in 2005," it says, noting that "as its economy grows, India will need millions more square feet of offices as well".
"Industry analysts estimate India has less modern urban office space than a single large American city. India's infrastructure demands too should keep plenty of companies in business. The government estimates the country needs $320 billion of investments in roads, ports and bridges by 2012.
"It's not a bubble," says Arjun Divecha, the California-based manager of investment firm GMO's $15 billion emerging-markets fund. "In India the reason why prices have risen so rapidly is because there has been so little increase in supply. If you look at the experience of other emerging markets, the real wealth escalator has been real estate and I expect the same in India."
Another article on "India's Democratic Advantage" says "sixty years of freedom have bound all Indians, rich and poor, to a single commitment: democracy".
"With a sixth of humanity living within its borders, India is more linguistically diverse than Europe. But apart from a few hiccups along the way, it remains one of the most stable and unified societies in all of Asia," Time notes.
Source: Economic Times
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Sixty years after independence, India is beginning to deliver on its promise, "unleashing a torrent of growth and wealth creation that is transforming the lives of millions", says Time magazine in a special cover issue.
"India's economic clout is beginning to make itself felt on the international stage, as the nation retakes the place it held as a global-trade giant long before colonial powers ever arrived there," says the US magazine's Aug 13 issue.
The special issue on "A Young Giant Awakes" has articles looking at the country's middle class, religion, politics and the transformation of its economy, besides a write-up profiling the conflicts, trends and turning points that shaped modern India.
"Twenty years ago the rest of the world saw India as a pauper. Now it is just as famous for its software engineers, Bollywood movie stars, literary giants and steel magnates," notes Time.
"It is worth remembering this as India aspires to superpower status, economic futurologists all agree that China and India during the 21st century will come to dominate the global economy," says William Dalrymple, author of "The Last Mughal: The Fall of a Dynasty, Delhi 1857".
"Various intelligence agencies estimate that China will overtake the US between 2030 and 2040 and India will overtake the US by roughly 2050, as measured in dollar terms. Measured by purchasing-power parity, India is already on the verge of overtaking Japan to become the third largest economy in the world," he says.
"Today, things are slowly returning to historical norms. Last year the richest man in the UK was for the first time an ethnic Indian, Lakshmi Mittal, and Britain's largest steel manufacturer, Corus, has been bought by an Indian company, Tata.
"Extraordinary as it is, the rise of India and China is nothing more than a return to the ancient equilibrium of world trade, with Europeans no longer appearing as gun-toting, gunboat-riding colonial masters but instead reverting to their traditional role - that of eager consumers of the much celebrated manufactures, luxuries and services of the East," says Dalrymple.
Another article notes how real estate prices have skyrocketed in India. A 2006 study by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and professional-services firm Ernst & Young found that total revenue from sales of commercial and residential property throughout India had grown 30 percent a year for the previous three years.
Land prices in some areas have tripled in value since 2004, while office rents in Mumbai and New Delhi are now more expensive than those in Paris, Hong Kong or midtown Manhattan, Time says citing a 2007 survey by real estate consultant CB Richard Ellis.
"Yet the boom may still have room to run. Merrill Lynch forecasts India's property industry will grow to $90 billion by 2015, up from $12 billion in 2005," it says, noting that "as its economy grows, India will need millions more square feet of offices as well".
"Industry analysts estimate India has less modern urban office space than a single large American city. India's infrastructure demands too should keep plenty of companies in business. The government estimates the country needs $320 billion of investments in roads, ports and bridges by 2012.
"It's not a bubble," says Arjun Divecha, the California-based manager of investment firm GMO's $15 billion emerging-markets fund. "In India the reason why prices have risen so rapidly is because there has been so little increase in supply. If you look at the experience of other emerging markets, the real wealth escalator has been real estate and I expect the same in India."
Another article on "India's Democratic Advantage" says "sixty years of freedom have bound all Indians, rich and poor, to a single commitment: democracy".
"With a sixth of humanity living within its borders, India is more linguistically diverse than Europe. But apart from a few hiccups along the way, it remains one of the most stable and unified societies in all of Asia," Time notes.
Source: Economic Times
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Monday, July 23, 2007
India calling
If America makes it too difficult for immigrants to start their companies in the US, these entrepreneurs will be welcomed in India
The United States Congress recently considered reforms to the US immigration policy. While no reforms were enacted, the debate in Congress — and across America — revealed that many Americans still think of immigration as an issue about low-skilled people, mostly from Latin America, who drive down wages for native-born Americans. Very little attention was paid to the high-skilled, highly educated immigrants from countries such as India, China, the United Kingdom and Russia who seek to enter America legally but are often dissuaded by the lengthy wait required to receive a small number of green cards.
The US ignores the needs of these immigrants at its own peril. A recent study completed at the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University showed that these entrepreneurial immigrants are using their skills, as well as the opportunities for business development present in the United States, to boost economic output and create more jobs for American workers. The effect of Indian entrepreneurs on US economic growth is particularly noteworthy.
The study, of engineering and technology companies created between 1995 and 2005, found that in 25% of these companies either the chief executive or lead technologist was foreign born. In 2005, these immigrant-founded companies alone produced $52 billion in sales and employed 450,000 workers — enough jobs to hire all the skilled engineers the US has admitted over the last decade, and then some.
The study also found that most immigrant entrepreneurs in America did not enter the country with the intention of starting a new business. In fact, less than 2% did. The vast majority came to pursue work or educational opportunities. On average, immigrant founders launched their firms 13 years after they arrived in the US.
This makes sense. Immigrants may not be fully aware of the opportunities for business development in the United States. Furthermore, coming from countries that have less developed and often more bureaucratic economies, they may not realise how relatively easy it is to start a business in America. The US economic environment is one that's supportive of entrepreneurship — reasonable taxes and regulation, enforceable contracts, and a highly motivated, well-educated workforce.
Most of the companies started with the help of immigrants are small and growing technology and science firms. But some have already reached global prominence. Yahoo's Jerry Yang is originally from Taiwan, Google's Sergey Brin is from Russia, and Vinod Khosla, a founder of Sun Microsystems, hails from India.
The study also found that in science and technology fields, innovative entrepreneurship is correlated with high levels of education. We infer that people with advanced degrees possess the qualifications, and the confidence, to bring novel and useful contributions to the market. Among the immigrant founders surveyed, 96% held advanced degrees, mostly from US institutions. Most of these advanced degrees were in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Indian immigrants, in particular, tend to be better educated than both native US citizens and other immigrant groups. While less than a quarter of US citizens hold a bachelor's degree, more than two-thirds of Indian immigrants have a college education. And nearly 40% of Indian immigrants in the US hold a graduate or professional degree — the highest rate of any immigrant group studied.
While one might have expected that most Indian entrepreneurs in America were trained at the elite Indian Institutes of Technology (which graduated Vinod Khosla), the reality is that just 15% of Indian entrepreneurs in America earned degrees from an IIT. We were surprised that Delhi University graduated as many such entrepreneurs as did IIT-Bombay, and Madras University graduated more than IIT-Madras. Indian entrepreneurs we surveyed attended more than 40 different universities in India before arriving in the US.
India's education system appears to offer a growing range of opportunities for students to pursue the kind of science and technical education they once could only find at elite schools or abroad. Perhaps because of the advanced educational achievements of Indian immigrants, they alone have generated a substantial portion of the jobs and economic output created by foreign-born entrepreneurs in the US. In fact, Indians founded more engineering and technology companies in the US in the decade leading up to 2005 than the next four immigrant groups combined — those from the UK, China, Taiwan, and Japan. Indian entrepreneurs accounted for 26% of all immigrant-founded start-ups, about 117,000 jobs, and $14 billion in revenue in 2005. In a very real sense, Indian immigrants have helped drive US high-tech leadership.
But the US faces a problem. While Indians who emigrated to America for education and work traditionally remained in the country in great numbers, more and more are now returning home, choosing to put their skills to use in India's growing domestic tech sector rather than waiting up to ten years for a green card in the US. According to NASSCOM, some 20,000 Indians living in the United States have moved back to India in just the last two years. We believe there are over 100,000 more who may be forced to leave because of visa processing delays.
Until now, the United States has been seen as the premier centre of both education and job opportunities in innovation industries. But with globalisation and communications technology driving the growth of high-tech centres outside the United States, today's scientists and engineers have many more options for launching a successful career.
Given the growing prominence of India's high-tech sector, the United States could also face a situation in which Indian students who once would have gone to study in America — and then stayed to help launch new, job-creating ventures — decide instead to remain at home. Sure, this would make some immigration-sceptical Americans happy, but it would do no favours for those who want to keep the US at the top of the global high-tech industry.
America's loss could be India's gain. While once the Indian government lobbied US lawmakers to provide more green cards for Indians seeking training and education in America, we expect it will not do so in the future. In building its own high-tech industry, India has used the United States as a training ground for its own scientists and engineers. And while Indian emigrants remained in America, the Indian government benefited from revenues they sent home.
But now India is booming — clearly one of the world's most promising emerging economies. It wants its own citizens to come home, or to stay home. It needs all the skilled workers it can get in order to continue the progress already made in attracting world-class talent and businesses to its shores. Indians who have the skills, the connections, and the business savvy to launch entrepreneurial ventures will be encouraged to do so at home. The message is clear: if the United States makes it too difficult for immigrants to start their companies in Silicon Valley, New York, or Boston, these entrepreneurs will be welcomed in Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Delhi.
(Co-authored by Robert Litan, Vice President for research and policy at the Kauffman Foundation. Wadhwa is executive in residence at the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University and a founder of two software companies.)
The United States Congress recently considered reforms to the US immigration policy. While no reforms were enacted, the debate in Congress — and across America — revealed that many Americans still think of immigration as an issue about low-skilled people, mostly from Latin America, who drive down wages for native-born Americans. Very little attention was paid to the high-skilled, highly educated immigrants from countries such as India, China, the United Kingdom and Russia who seek to enter America legally but are often dissuaded by the lengthy wait required to receive a small number of green cards.
The US ignores the needs of these immigrants at its own peril. A recent study completed at the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University showed that these entrepreneurial immigrants are using their skills, as well as the opportunities for business development present in the United States, to boost economic output and create more jobs for American workers. The effect of Indian entrepreneurs on US economic growth is particularly noteworthy.
The study, of engineering and technology companies created between 1995 and 2005, found that in 25% of these companies either the chief executive or lead technologist was foreign born. In 2005, these immigrant-founded companies alone produced $52 billion in sales and employed 450,000 workers — enough jobs to hire all the skilled engineers the US has admitted over the last decade, and then some.
The study also found that most immigrant entrepreneurs in America did not enter the country with the intention of starting a new business. In fact, less than 2% did. The vast majority came to pursue work or educational opportunities. On average, immigrant founders launched their firms 13 years after they arrived in the US.
This makes sense. Immigrants may not be fully aware of the opportunities for business development in the United States. Furthermore, coming from countries that have less developed and often more bureaucratic economies, they may not realise how relatively easy it is to start a business in America. The US economic environment is one that's supportive of entrepreneurship — reasonable taxes and regulation, enforceable contracts, and a highly motivated, well-educated workforce.
Most of the companies started with the help of immigrants are small and growing technology and science firms. But some have already reached global prominence. Yahoo's Jerry Yang is originally from Taiwan, Google's Sergey Brin is from Russia, and Vinod Khosla, a founder of Sun Microsystems, hails from India.
The study also found that in science and technology fields, innovative entrepreneurship is correlated with high levels of education. We infer that people with advanced degrees possess the qualifications, and the confidence, to bring novel and useful contributions to the market. Among the immigrant founders surveyed, 96% held advanced degrees, mostly from US institutions. Most of these advanced degrees were in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Indian immigrants, in particular, tend to be better educated than both native US citizens and other immigrant groups. While less than a quarter of US citizens hold a bachelor's degree, more than two-thirds of Indian immigrants have a college education. And nearly 40% of Indian immigrants in the US hold a graduate or professional degree — the highest rate of any immigrant group studied.
While one might have expected that most Indian entrepreneurs in America were trained at the elite Indian Institutes of Technology (which graduated Vinod Khosla), the reality is that just 15% of Indian entrepreneurs in America earned degrees from an IIT. We were surprised that Delhi University graduated as many such entrepreneurs as did IIT-Bombay, and Madras University graduated more than IIT-Madras. Indian entrepreneurs we surveyed attended more than 40 different universities in India before arriving in the US.
India's education system appears to offer a growing range of opportunities for students to pursue the kind of science and technical education they once could only find at elite schools or abroad. Perhaps because of the advanced educational achievements of Indian immigrants, they alone have generated a substantial portion of the jobs and economic output created by foreign-born entrepreneurs in the US. In fact, Indians founded more engineering and technology companies in the US in the decade leading up to 2005 than the next four immigrant groups combined — those from the UK, China, Taiwan, and Japan. Indian entrepreneurs accounted for 26% of all immigrant-founded start-ups, about 117,000 jobs, and $14 billion in revenue in 2005. In a very real sense, Indian immigrants have helped drive US high-tech leadership.
But the US faces a problem. While Indians who emigrated to America for education and work traditionally remained in the country in great numbers, more and more are now returning home, choosing to put their skills to use in India's growing domestic tech sector rather than waiting up to ten years for a green card in the US. According to NASSCOM, some 20,000 Indians living in the United States have moved back to India in just the last two years. We believe there are over 100,000 more who may be forced to leave because of visa processing delays.
Until now, the United States has been seen as the premier centre of both education and job opportunities in innovation industries. But with globalisation and communications technology driving the growth of high-tech centres outside the United States, today's scientists and engineers have many more options for launching a successful career.
Given the growing prominence of India's high-tech sector, the United States could also face a situation in which Indian students who once would have gone to study in America — and then stayed to help launch new, job-creating ventures — decide instead to remain at home. Sure, this would make some immigration-sceptical Americans happy, but it would do no favours for those who want to keep the US at the top of the global high-tech industry.
America's loss could be India's gain. While once the Indian government lobbied US lawmakers to provide more green cards for Indians seeking training and education in America, we expect it will not do so in the future. In building its own high-tech industry, India has used the United States as a training ground for its own scientists and engineers. And while Indian emigrants remained in America, the Indian government benefited from revenues they sent home.
But now India is booming — clearly one of the world's most promising emerging economies. It wants its own citizens to come home, or to stay home. It needs all the skilled workers it can get in order to continue the progress already made in attracting world-class talent and businesses to its shores. Indians who have the skills, the connections, and the business savvy to launch entrepreneurial ventures will be encouraged to do so at home. The message is clear: if the United States makes it too difficult for immigrants to start their companies in Silicon Valley, New York, or Boston, these entrepreneurs will be welcomed in Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Delhi.
(Co-authored by Robert Litan, Vice President for research and policy at the Kauffman Foundation. Wadhwa is executive in residence at the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University and a founder of two software companies.)
Source: Economic Times
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Friday, December 02, 2005
Lalu didn't do anything. Will Nitish?
Winds of change have blown across the landscape of Bihar. With Lalu Prasad Yadav's 15-year era having come to an end, it is time for a new beginning. Or is it?
A week after Nitish Kumar took over the helm of affairs in the state, there are expectations galore from the man who started his career along with Lalu, under Jayaprakash Narayan's socialist movement.
From bringing back law and order to the state, the engineering graduate-turned-Chief Minister also has to deal with Bihar's falling fortunes. Apart from resurrecting the state's economy, he also has to restore a sense of peace and calm.
For a state that has been mired in an abyss of absolute lawlessness and hit rock bottom economically, the climb will be a tough one and Kumar will have to start from scratch.
Do the people of Bihar draw confidence from Lalu’s successor? Is Nitish the man to do all of that? Is it at all possible? What people of Bihar want to get done in their home state? These are questions which will get answered in near future.
The change of guard in Bihar is definitely great. It is a huge victory for the people of Bihar and having actively participated in the polls, One can understand the sense of elation.
It also shows that the mandate was never with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the poll results are a rejoinder to the fact that free and fair elections are quite possible in Bihar. This is just the beginning of a new, changed Bihar.
The new CM has to start everything from scratch –it’s difficult but possible. Politics, infrastructure, economics, social disorder –Nitish Kumar has a lot on his agenda. Bihar has been in a state of complete disarray over the past 15 years, which has been a period of complete misrule and non-development.
While Lalu had the mandate to work it out, he couldn't do anything for the state. Kumar will have to woo investment to the state in order to ensure that all those who had left the state in search for employment and a better future come back. Although it’s a coalition government, it will work if they have their house in order.
In business salesmanship, the consumer is the king. Likewise, in a democracy it is the people’s verdict, given freely and fairly which ultimately, is the ruler and the results reflect this.
The time for changeover was absolutely necessary. Large sections of people were yearning for social respect and prestige. They had also started clamoring for betterment in terms of facilities and availing new opportunities to better their economic standards.
The new government will have to beef up law and order, development of infrastructure and governance. However, law and order alone can’t resurrect Bihar's falling fortunes.
Kumar also has to stress on development and economic growth and there has to be a judicious mix of stick and carrot with preference between the two varying depending upon prevailing situation and circumstances.
Coalition governments reflecting a broad consensus of different ideologies and programmes, often suffer from the disadvantage of conflicting priorities even if a common minimum programme is in place. As long as that doesn’t happen to this government, things should be fine.
Since people have chosen him, it’s a welcome change. Although it’s too early to comment anything, Kumar looks promising.
The overall situation has to improve as the present state is not very good. There are lots of challenges ahead of him and he has to start from the basics. In terms of education, infrastructure, investment, Bihar has a long way to go, compared to other states.
I have spent my formative years in Bihar and I know that a change was definitely required. Kumar seems like a capable and deserving candidate who can revamp the situation in Bihar, which over the years has gone from bad to worse.
As long as the government has its priorities in order, there’s no reason a coalition government won’t work. Even at the Centre, there has been a successful coalition government. I can now hope that the bumpy roads in north Bihar, where my grandparents live will be a thing of the past.
A week after Nitish Kumar took over the helm of affairs in the state, there are expectations galore from the man who started his career along with Lalu, under Jayaprakash Narayan's socialist movement.
From bringing back law and order to the state, the engineering graduate-turned-Chief Minister also has to deal with Bihar's falling fortunes. Apart from resurrecting the state's economy, he also has to restore a sense of peace and calm.
For a state that has been mired in an abyss of absolute lawlessness and hit rock bottom economically, the climb will be a tough one and Kumar will have to start from scratch.
Do the people of Bihar draw confidence from Lalu’s successor? Is Nitish the man to do all of that? Is it at all possible? What people of Bihar want to get done in their home state? These are questions which will get answered in near future.
The change of guard in Bihar is definitely great. It is a huge victory for the people of Bihar and having actively participated in the polls, One can understand the sense of elation.
It also shows that the mandate was never with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the poll results are a rejoinder to the fact that free and fair elections are quite possible in Bihar. This is just the beginning of a new, changed Bihar.
The new CM has to start everything from scratch –it’s difficult but possible. Politics, infrastructure, economics, social disorder –Nitish Kumar has a lot on his agenda. Bihar has been in a state of complete disarray over the past 15 years, which has been a period of complete misrule and non-development.
While Lalu had the mandate to work it out, he couldn't do anything for the state. Kumar will have to woo investment to the state in order to ensure that all those who had left the state in search for employment and a better future come back. Although it’s a coalition government, it will work if they have their house in order.
In business salesmanship, the consumer is the king. Likewise, in a democracy it is the people’s verdict, given freely and fairly which ultimately, is the ruler and the results reflect this.
The time for changeover was absolutely necessary. Large sections of people were yearning for social respect and prestige. They had also started clamoring for betterment in terms of facilities and availing new opportunities to better their economic standards.
The new government will have to beef up law and order, development of infrastructure and governance. However, law and order alone can’t resurrect Bihar's falling fortunes.
Kumar also has to stress on development and economic growth and there has to be a judicious mix of stick and carrot with preference between the two varying depending upon prevailing situation and circumstances.
Coalition governments reflecting a broad consensus of different ideologies and programmes, often suffer from the disadvantage of conflicting priorities even if a common minimum programme is in place. As long as that doesn’t happen to this government, things should be fine.
Since people have chosen him, it’s a welcome change. Although it’s too early to comment anything, Kumar looks promising.
The overall situation has to improve as the present state is not very good. There are lots of challenges ahead of him and he has to start from the basics. In terms of education, infrastructure, investment, Bihar has a long way to go, compared to other states.
I have spent my formative years in Bihar and I know that a change was definitely required. Kumar seems like a capable and deserving candidate who can revamp the situation in Bihar, which over the years has gone from bad to worse.
As long as the government has its priorities in order, there’s no reason a coalition government won’t work. Even at the Centre, there has been a successful coalition government. I can now hope that the bumpy roads in north Bihar, where my grandparents live will be a thing of the past.
Source: TOI, 1st December
Planning to visit Bihar? Check out this.
Thursday, March 24, 2005
History of President's Rule in Bihar
It is the 8th time when president's rule is imposed in Bihar.
President's rule was imposed for the first time in the state on June 29, 1968 when Bhola Paswan Shastri, succumbing to pulls and pressures from various constituents of his Sanyukta Vidhayak Dal (SVD), resigned and asked the governor to recommend central rule, which lasted till February 26, 1969.
It was imposed again on July 4, 1969 and January 9, 1972, both times when Bhola Paswan Shastri was the Chief Minister, as he could not manage his squabbling coalition partners.
Bihar was brought under central rule for the fourth time on April 30, 1977 when Jagannath Mishra's Congress government was dismissed after Morarji Desai became Prime Minister. It lasted till June 24, 1977.
With the failure of Janata experiment and return of Indira Gandhi to power, she dismissed Ramsunder Das ministry of Janata Party and President's Rule was imposed for the fifth time on February 17, 1980, which continued till June 8, 1980.
The state again came under a brief spell of President's Rule for six days for technical reasons as the assembly could not be constituted till March 15, 1995, due to non-completion of election process.
Central rule was imposed for the seventh time on February 12, 1999 by BJP-led NDA government following the massacre of 22 people at a village on January 25 and killing of 11 of Dalits in Jehanabad district on February 10 which continued till March 9, 1999.
However, as Congress came to the rescue of Rabri Devi government and declared to vote against the central government resolution in the Rajya Sabha where it had the majority, the resolution was withdrawn and President's Rule revoked on March 9, 1999 after 25 days.
And seemingly, this time, it will go for long. Unfortunate but true in the history of Bihar, here ruler changes faster than rules do.
Also read: A guide to President's rule
And also find out tourist places of Bihar at Inditour.
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