Mixing a New Curry - 3 Steps to an Economic Quantum Leap For India

One of my predictions is that the new middle class of the world in a generation or two ahead will be in India while the current middle classes of the traditional western world will diminish. Create or disintegrate. This will naturally represent a major shift in the world economies. The western world does not perceive this as threat and is fairly relaxed about its coming for some currently obvious reasons.

There is never an either or - there is abundance - but it is hard the get the "majority" to understand that. In short this means that the rise of India does not have to be at the cost of a western decline, as traditionally has been the case or perception, it is actually an important point this does not happen. But the keyword for both parties is change. Successful change.

There are three elements for successful change.

Market
The world has seen a revolutionary change in communication over the last 15 years. IT, the Internet, and telecom have all changed the world and world market dramatically for the better. (To the extent it has changed it for the worse that is the responsibility of the individual.) These days you can live anywhere and have clients all over the world. Physical presence is not a necessity anymore. As a supplier it is easier to reach a critical mass often needed to succeed. The cost to reach the market is I many instances lower than it used to be and it opens up for successful niches.

Technology has changed the market place, and most importantly changed both the perception of what a small business can achieve and what it actually represents. It is not synonymous with the small business serving the local community any more.

Further enabled small business to enter a much bigger market place without being constantly beaten by big corporations that actually struggle with the new market situation and as such are dependent upon small and specialized vendors to survive.

Skills

India has a tradition for high education, trading skills and being industrious people, and can of course benefit further from this by giving a bigger part of the population the opportunity to take part. This will no doubt represent a challenge for the establishment as it inflicts with conventional wisdom but would greatly benefit the country if implemented.

India has grown into the call center and support center of the world, which would never have happened if the education and skill set had not been on the level it is. India has in its culture service and takes great pride in delivering quality which are two major factors why the above have become reality.

Mindset

But there is also a very definite danger in this and the main reason why the western world is so laid back regarding the rise of India as a real industrial power. This is the mindset. Conventional wisdom is way too dominant to create any major change in a country actually having the skills to do it.

Mindset is generally a