India on the Move

India is a land of promise and contradiction, a land of great wealth, industry and potential which is still fighting poverty and overpopulation. In the 18 years since I last visited, change has surged forward however.

During a recent trip to the wedding of a dear friend in Hydrabad, I marveled at the boundless energy, the beauty, the rapid progress in this country. Changes in communication, finance, industry, technology and health are everywhere to see.

India has comfortably moved into the 21st Century. The modern and the traditional now coexist in this exotic land.

In 1986, when I was last here with my wife, it was common to see crippled children and adults begging in the streets. When we returned in January, we still saw many beggars, but we did not see polio ravaged children crawling about on their hands, as in days past. Rotary's Polio Plus program to eradicate this crippling disease has had an obvious and welcome impact in this land. We only saw one crippled person pushing himself around on a skateboard with his hands, and he was an adult.

India is full of ingenuity.

It is not yet possible to provide a telephone for each of India's one billion citizens. Instead, a national telephone system has been developed that placed a modern telephone for local and international calls on nearly every street corner in big cities, and at regular intervals along roads elsewhere. The bright yellow ISD-STD sign seems to be everywhere, in shops, malls street corners and even homes. The government-approved phones are connected to a small electronic device so the caller can watch the clock run while they talk, and it prints a receipt with the total, avoiding the possibility of swindling by the vendor.

Often the owner of the shop or home where the phone is located is unable to communicate effectively in English, yet hands the caller a detailed printed receipt in exchange for payment. The connection is better than some I have had calling from Europe and the US. And at 9 rupees per minute (21 cents) for an international call, it beats some local calling rates in the US.

The Internet Cafes were equally impressive. The average Indian cannot always afford a computer and Internet hookup. In a system similar to the phone system, there is an Internet CafZ in every neighborhood. Often found in small storefronts, sometimes dusty and nondescript, with a small, worn wooden table supporting a well-used, older-appearing computer, they are frequently very modest in appearance.

On one occasion I approached my machine and tentatively punched in a search on the web -- to The Daily News, to check up on things back home. WOW! Broadband high speed Internet made my dial-up connection back home seem like something from the days of the Raj! And at 30 rupees (70 cents) for 1-2 hour, the price was right. It was odd, being in a country often pigeon-holed as being "third world," to use a computer with a connection faster than the one in my comfortable American home. These ubiquitous cafes usually offer fax service, international calling, and photocopies at reasonable prices and convenient locations.

In other communication technologies India is rapidly advancing as well. Cell phones turn up everywhere, using the globally accepted GSM system. Bicycle rickshaw drivers, shopkeepers, and teenagers often had the phones, negating the need for a costly land line. Further, India has developed one of the worlds largest communications satellite systems. Fiber optic cable systems are under mbuttive development.

Among India's greatest resources is the English language, the Lingua Franca of India. With 14 official regional languages and scores of local languages and dialects, English is the great unifying voice, used for most national, political and commercial interactions. At the wedding we attended, with relatives and friends visiting from all over India, nearly everyone communicated in English so all could understand. Unfortunately there has not been a movement to ensure that English is taught with a globally understood accent, as anyone who has spoken with an Indian call center can attest. It is often difficult for Westerners to understand English spoken quickly by Indians. In writing, however, it is indistinguishable, affording India a huge advantage over its greatest industrial rival, China. Given the much lower production costs, we can expect to see more foreign companies publishing their books, magazines and instruction manuals in India.

The economy has grown; prosperity seemed to be in the air. However, it is accompanied by pollution.

And poverty is still one of India's greatest challenges. There are many very poor rural areas, and all of the large cities have encampments of desperately poor people. Still, the entry of India into the global economic community, particularly in Information Technology, has profoundly improved the lives of millions, and has driven the poverty rate down by 10 percentage points in 15 years. Jobs are available. Universities and colleges churn out thousands of send graduates to fill the openings in technical fields and call centers.

Education is very highly valued in India, particularly by the middle clbutt. And that clbutt is a bigger segment of the population than many might expect.

India's middle clbutt is estimated to exceed 300 million people, larger than the entire population of the United States. Its rate of economic growth is estimated to have been between 7.6 and 9 percent per year for the past three years (the U.S.'s was at 3.1 percent). Its Industrial Growth Rate is at 6 percent, compared to 0.3 percent for the U.S. India has the world's fourth largest economy (after the US, China, and Japan). If those rates hold steady for both India and the U.S., the size of India's economy could surpbutt ours in about 30 years. There are obstacles in the way, of course, including the huge population burden, India's lack of military control over necessary foreign oil resources, and the lack of sufficient infrastructure. But there are promising factors as well.

India has enormous iron deposits and the world's fourth largest reserves of coal. An able and cheap work force makes its potential industrial capacity staggering. A huge domestic industrial base produces quality cars, trucks, motorcycles and appliances. Because India's safety standards have historically been lower than ours, their goods have been kept out of world markets. That is rapidly changing. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of newer cars we rode in. America can expect to see Indian industrial goods hitting our markets soon, in addition to the textiles we already enjoy.

Corporations will follow these trends. A graduate with an MBA in India earns 25 percent of what a person with the same skills earns in the United States, making it much cheaper for foreign companies to do business in India. It is likely we will see more jobs outsourced to India, especially in finance, information technology and manufacturing.

I also expect tourism growth to continue. India is blessed with a warm climate, spectacular scenery, some of the world's most dramatic monuments, and beautiful beaches. The government has made great strides in liberalizing and streamlining financial transactions. And with an exchange rate of 43 rupees to the dollar (it was only 13 to the dollar in 1986), Western currency goes a long way.

In 1986 changing money was often a 1 1-2-hour ordeal, punctuated by everyone in the bank taking a half-hour break after you stood in a long line for 45 minutes. Everything was done by hand, in triplicate, with a flurry of rubber stamps on each document. Often the most important rubber stamp was that of a supervisor in some back room, who was seldom available to grant his desperately needed stamp. Today, money is exchanged in numerous places, with computerized bookkeeping. The entire transaction takes 5 minutes.

A curry dinner for two in a three star hotel, including rice and vegetable dishes, beverages and dessert, costs the equivalent of $6.50. An air-conditioned room in a fine hotel with garden, four poster antique bed and furniture, and more staff than most Americans can imagine, costs about $35.00 per night. One beach-front five star hotel we saw was $85.00 per night.

Water quality and sanitation has vastly improved. Today's middle-clbutt Indians use water-cooler sized bottles of purified water in their homes for all food preparation, making it safer for Westerners to eat in private homes. The municipal systems are purportedly safe, but most Indians use tap water only for boiled products like tea. And, of course, the food is excellent and varied. Many global products are now readily available, including Ferraro Rocher chocolates, pasta, American soft drinks, and European bath products. We even bought Washington apples as a gift for one of our hosts!

Perhaps most importantly in this time of global strife, the people we met in India truly like and admire Westerners, especially Americans.

India is truly "open for business." Shops are often open late, and if a merchant sees a prospective customer walking by he will happily open early or stay late. Imagine asking the nice folks at your local store if they would open twenty minutes early because you need something. With the cost of labor so cheap most shops are well staffed with very helpful clerks eager to make you a "special morning price."

Indians are, in my experience, hopeful, optimistic people, and a pleasure to buttociate with. The noise and bustle and smells of a crowded Indian city street can be a bit overwhelming to Westerners, and little has changed in that regard in 20 years. Yet the sense that something is happening is palpable.

India is on the move. Its people are avidly seeking a better life. With their indomitable spirit, resourcefulness and desire to do better, I think they will find it.