Country spotlight series - India - the Land of Opportunities

Ashok Gulati brings 30 years of business, sales and marketing experience in variety of Indian companies. Mr. Gulati is a business consultant and he also runs RE News India, a website dedicated to development and promotion of green technologies in India. We spoke about India and the economic opportunities for small and medium companies that it offers.

Editor: Do you see rise in the entrepreneurial activity in India?

Mr. Gulati: Yes, definitely. With more and more large multinational corporations entering India, younger generation with better educational background uses this opportunity to gain business experience and start on their own. Another helping factor - many of the alma-mater companies do not mind using additional services of companies managed by the ex employees based on the established relationships.

With India growth story going strong, even people who are not well qualified but have entrepreneurship ability are finding opportunities and more people venture into starting new businesses.

Having said that, overall picture is still not comparable to the  US and EU counties mainly due to the funding constraints.

Editor: Do you see changes in commerce due to changes in the government policies?

Mr. Gulati:  Yes, indeed, both from international and national perspectives. India’s prime minister Manmohan Singh is a major driver of economic reforms. On the international front, various new Trade agreements coupled with Trade Promotion Programmes were recently announced.  On the national front Special Economic Zones, Trade Promotion assistance provided are few things worth mentioning apart from many others.

India is one of the largest economies of the world. It is a fast growing free market democracy which has come to the global forefront as a hub for manufacturing and services industry. It is the fourth largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP) and the tenth most industrialized country in the world. It’s diversified natural and human resource base & a vast consumer market places it at a competitive position on the world platform

Moreover, the process of reforms and the consequent deregulation, liberalization and globalization of the economy has unleashed the enormous growth potential of the country. This has made India a preferred destination for domestic and foreign investments. It has become the 2nd most attractive investment destination and is fast emerging as the most favoured business destination for overseas investment, an important trading partner and continues to be the most favoured back-office of the world,

Indian industry offers huge opportunity for cooperation in IT, Science & Technology, pharma, biotech, space & the energy sector, especially clean energy technologies

Editor: How can small and medium size companies from the US and EU benefit from India’s growth?

Mr. Gulati: While the 2009 outlook for global technology related spending is currently affected by the recessionary environment, there is a huge opportunity in the field of green technologies. This industry is being actively promoted by the recent changes in our economic policy. Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission is one of the eight missions under ‘National Action Plan on Climate Change’. It is a major initiative to promote ecologically sustainable growth while addressing India’s energy security challenge.

The National Solar Mission aims to promote the development and use of solar energy for power generation and other off-grid uses in the country. The Mission targets 20,000 MW solar power, by 2022 which opens the market for companies with technological know-how in the areas of solar, wind power and other reusable energy technologies. From engineering, manufacturing and service prospective India offers a huge opportunity for businesses of all sizes.