Hindu Economic Power

Hindu Economic Power
Chanakya
Email: vishwadharma@gmail.com,

Swayamsewak Prime Minister
Atal Behari Vajpaye is credited with being the first non-congress prime minister ever to have formed a government that lasted its full term of 5 years. During his premiership, Vajpayee introduced many important economic and infrastructural reforms domestically including, encouraging the private sector and foreign investments; reducing governmental waste; encouraging research and development and privatizing of government owned corporations. In May 1998, under Vajpayee’s leadership India conducted five underground nuclear weapon tests in Pokhran, Rajasthan. The five tests shocked and surprised the world. It is speculated that the tests were planned in 1995 when P. V. Narasimha Rao was the prime minister of India, but Vajpayee took credit for decisively acting on such an important issue. Vajpayee also advanced the ballistic missiles programme and bolstered defense modernization and spending. While some nations, such as Russia and France, endorsed India's right to defensive nuclear power, others including USA, Canada, Japan, UK and the European Union imposed sanctions on the sale of military equipment and high-tech scientific information, resources and technology to India. In spite of the intense international criticism steady decline in foreign investment and trade, Vajpayee steered India clear of the cobwebs of corruption, caste politics and transformed India from a borrowing nation to a lending nation. Atal ji being a swayasewak knew the essentials of Hindu culture that has sustained our nation for 10,000 years in spite of so many foreign invasions. He has proved beyond doubt that only a person imbued with Hindutva can take the nation to great heights. Narendra Modi another swayamsewak trained in Hindutva is taking Gujarat to the pinnacle of economic glory. It is unfortunate that Sadar Vallabhbhai Patel, the son of a farmer could not become India’s first prime minister even though Congress overwhelmingly voted him for that post. Had that taken place, India would have become the economic capital of the world because he too knew the Hindutva roots of Bharat.

Economic Power- Bharat Vanshis march shoulder to shoulder with Bharat Vasis
Many overseas Indians have established their financial superiority. Laxminivas Mittal of Mittal Steels is the richest person in United Kingdom. He is followed closely by Swaraj Paul, Hindujas Jatania Brothers, Tom Singh, Bhikkubhai Patel and a few others. On per capita income basis ethnic Indians are the richest or among the richest communities in USA, Canada, UK, France, Germany and other European countries, Hong Kong, Thailand, Japan, Taiwan, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Zambia, Fiji, Australia and New Zealand. In USA an average Indian earns 25% more than the national average.

Laxmi Niwas Mittal today is the world’s largest steel producer and the third richest man in the world (net worth: $32 billion, or Rs 1, 44, 000 crores). Arcelor Mittal is the world’s number one steel company, with 320,000 employees in more than 60 countries. Arcelor Mittal Pro-forma revenue in 2005 showed combined revenues of 62.2bn euro (77.5bn$) and approximate production capacity of 113 million tonnes, which represents about 10% of the world’s crude steel output. He produces more steel than what is produced by most countries in the world. Senior politicians from France and Luxembourg had initially rallied against the takeover of Arcelor by Mittal, a 26.9 billion-euro ($34.4 billion) merger.

“If the shareholders and if the regulators in charge are going to accept what was concluded today, then I think this will be a truly extraordinary situation for Luxembourg, to have by far the biggest steel maker here and to have its headquarters and decision-making center here,” said Luxembourg’s economy minister, Jeannot Krecké. “It’s a great victory.”
Mittal owns the world’s most expensive private residence (which he bought for $128 million or Rs 576 crores).

Aditya Birla company in Thailand produces maximum carbon black in the world. Shri Manilal Chandaria of Kenya has his business empire spread over 45 countries. The Gujarati Hindu Khimjis of Oman are so rich that Sultanate passed a law banning them from purchasing any more land. They were already occupying one third of the country. In one of their lands their ancestors built a temple for Lord Shiva one hundred and fifty years ago and on a Shivratri day the queue of Hindu devotees winds to miles and miles in this Gulf kingdom. Petronas Tower in Kuala Lumpur, the tallest twin towers in the world belongs to Ananta Krishnan.
From Not Required Indians NRIs or Non Resident Indians have become “Noble Resurgent Indians” and “Needy Required Indians”. Bharat-Vasis and Bharat Vamshis together have made Bharat the third largest economy in the world next only to USA and China on Peoples Purchase Parity counts.

Three cheers for Resurgent Hindu Rate of Growth
In the midst of all challenges we have been growing very fast. We now enjoy money power too. We have even given a loan of 300 million dollars to IMF to help other poor nations. Our BSE SENSEX index has crossed 12,000 points (April 2006), our rate of growth is over 9% consistently (It is the second highest in the world), inflation rate low at 4%, employment is increasing and illiteracy rate is diminishing rapidly at 10% rate. Foreign Direct Investment is ever on the increase. Overseas Indians are investing over 22 Billion dollars a year which is highest in the world for any overseas community including overseas Chinese.

Added to all these, is the healthy contribution of Gross Domestic Savings. For the year 2004-05 our Gross Domestic Savings was 29.1% of our GDP. Of this GDS, contributions from Government and Private sectors were mere 2.2% and 4.8% respectively. The major contribution of 22.3% was from household sector. Foreign investment of Rs. 67,249 crores (Direct Investment Rs. 25,395 Crore and Portfolio Investment Rs 41,854 Crores) for the same year period was a mere 7.4% when compared with GDS. Thus we have the astonishing, active positive role played by our housewives - so called illiterate, unintelligent, poor housewives living in rural Bharat. Let us thank the frugal attitude of housewives who wage a battle day in and day out against inflation. (Reference: article by R.Vaidyanathan, Professor of Finance and Control, Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore. He can be contacted at vaidya@iimb.ernet.in).
Pakistan which got freedom one day before Bharat chose to be an Islamic state. It is now burdened with a massive foreign debt. It could not evolve into a democracy, an efficient economy, or a civilized polity, without undermining the religious rationale for its very existence. Our rate of growth of GDP increasing at over 9% can now be safely called the Hindu Rate of Growth. Many foreign experts who have researched into India’s present economic development have attributed this phenomenal growth mainly to Hindu Family values.

Both NRI remittances and savings by common Indians are much higher than Foreign Direct Investment and hence FDI cannot damage our economy as it happened to many countries during the great Asian economic crisis in the 1990s.

The demand for smart Indians is increasing not only in developed nations of US, Europe and Japan but also in most of the developing and underdeveloped nations. The presence of Indian experts and Indian businessmen in most countries has reduced the gap between the rich and the poor. The world has become flat according to three times Pulitzer award winner Thomas Friedman mainly due to India becoming a global player. Even George Bush rates his India visit in 2006 a great landmark.

Mega Trends in Indian Economy and Hindu Economics
15 years ago, the Indian economy, Indian companies and Indian markets were mostly small or tiny. The telecom market was 5 million connections 15 years ago; now it is over 180 million, and the fastest growing in the world. In commercial space, all of India’s cities used to have office space totaling 40 million square feet. Now we are adding that much as new commercial space every year. The total Indian car market was half a million vehicles in 2000; by 2010, a single company will be turning out twice that number, and India will be a small car manufacturing hub for the world.

From 5 million phones and 10 million TV sets a few years ago, we are now connected with 180 million phones and 120 million TV sets. Our trucks move at 50 km per hour in stead of 25 km per hour on the highways. This results in better quality of decision-making, higher speed of response, better supply chain management, just in time delivery, and therefore higher scale of Production.

In 2001-02, there were 61 million Indians belonging to families that earned more than Rs 2 lakh (Rs 200,000) a year; by last year (2005-06), that number had crossed 100 million. In 2009-10, the National Council for Applied Economic Research forecasts it will be 173 million. This will lead to a different type of politics and politician, because the educated, urban, middle class voter is usually not thinking caste? The middle-class will expect (and increasingly demand) reliable power, clean water, comfortable mass transport systems. . .

Look at the pressures on the government in Delhi in recent years, to provide clean air, uninterrupted power, fast traffic, and responsive government-and you can see what could happen elsewhere in the coming years.

The number of US visas issued in India doubled in 2006, to over 800,000 – more than in any other country, barring Mexico. More Indian students are studying in other countries than those of any other nationality, barring perhaps China. Neither of these was remotely true 15 years ago.

The foreign trade component of India’s GDP (including trade in both goods and services, like software) is now about 55 per cent — nearly three times what it used to be. And Indian firms were buying three overseas companies a week, through 2006.

A country that is open to the world reacts in fundamentally different ways from a closed system (of the kind that India used to be). There is greater self-confidence, faster acceptance of new influences and ideas, a willingness to accept global benchmarking, and a speedier response to changing circumstance. It is simply a more adaptive and therefore a more efficient system and more productivity growth.

Dark side of Development: Problems related to environment, energy, disparity and cultural degradations are the negative aspects of any fast developmental activity. The increasing pollution of air with those additional cars, the dropping of the groundwater level and the failure to renew resources like forests will weigh heavily on our society. World oil market will go hay-wire if we treble our consumption. We do not wish to cut down our wants because everyone wants the western middle-class dream. Disparity is almost certain to increase with executive jets, golf clubs, luxury watches and multi-crore apartments on one hand and starvations and suicides on the other.

In such a situation politicians will mess up with reservations of seats and jobs and concessions of various kinds to finance big spending programmes. TVs and movies corrupt our youth with western vulgarities and values like disco dance, Saturday night fever, Miss India contest, Valentine day, friendship bands, cake cuttings and so on. Tennis player Sania Mirza says there is nothing wrong in having sex outside and before marriage and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says Sania is the role model for youth. Hindu wisdom like Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (world is one family), Sarva Bhuta Hitah (serve every living being), Tat Tvam Asi (That Thou Art) and Tena Tyaketana Bhunjeeta (enjoy with restraint) can help us overcome these hurdles. Now is the time to remember the wisdom of our great men. Gandhiji said, ‘We have enough for man’s need but not for his greed’, Swami Vivekanand said, “Service and renunciation are the twin messages of India”, Shri Guruji said, “In a world so full of misery of all kinds, there can be no nobler ideal than to serve the weak and downtrodden” and Yogi Aurobindo had said, “The country whose young men are inspired by the glory of the past, pain of the present and dreams of the future always moves on the path of progress”. After all Vedas have told us that Arth and Kama should be moderated by Dharma and Moksha (economics, political power and entertainment should be moderated by ethics and spirituality). Ancient rishis had said, ‘earn with thousand hands and distribute with two thousand hands’.

If we adhere to our own age old culture, tradition, heritage and family values, then this in fact is Hindu economics.

The global Indian takeover
(Based on articles that appeared in Times of India and Economic Times)
The Tata Group is celebrating its acquisition of the Anglo-Dutch steel firm Corus and the catapulting of Tata Steel into world steel’s big-five status (by revenue). It should. The $12 billion deal is the biggest deal out of India and is done by a private sector entity of its own volition away from the shadow of state influence. The Tata group has been easily the most aggressive globaliser. Tata Tea set the ball rolling by acquiring Tetley Tea, which was double its size. Later, Tata Tea acquired Eight O’clock Coffee, USA, for $220m, and last month acquired 30% of Glaceau, a US speciality waters company, for $677 m. Tata Motors has acquired the truck assets of Korea’s Daewoo Motors and design-engineering firm. A third of the Tata group’s revenues already come from abroad and with the Corus acquisition the ratio will go up sharply.
The AV Birla group’s takeover of the U.S. based aluminum products manufacturer Novelis for a consideration of approximately $6 billion came within two weeks after the Tatas inked their deal with Corus.

Hindalco, the flagship company of the Kumar Birla group, acquired two copper mines in Australia — Mount Gordon and Nifty. Sterlite has become a true multinational by acquiring copper mines in Australia. Sterlite has also taken over Konkola, Zambia’s biggest copper mine, from Anglo American.
The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation has made acquisitions in Brazil, Colombia, Sudan, Angola and Syria.
The Ambanis, Birlas, Mahindras, Videocon and most other Indian majors have made foreign acquisitions.

When India began globalising in 1991, many Indians felt that this would mean the wholesale takeover of Indian companies by foreign multinational companies (MNCs). But today takeover of foreign companies by Indian multinationals is the order of the day. Essel Packaging , owned by Subhash Chandra, took over Propack of Switzerland to form Essel Propack. The merger created the biggest producer in the world of laminated tubes, and an Indian MNC became global number one. His Zee TV has already taken over ICO, the global satellite communications company.

According to one source, more than 40 foreign companies were taken over by Indians in 2002 and the trend continues.

Ranbaxy, our biggest pharmaceutical company, has just acquired RPG Aventis , the French generic wing of the multinational Aventis. Here again, an Indian minnow has acquired part of a global whale. they have also acquired Terapia for $324 m. Wockhardt, owned by the Khorakiwalas, acquired CP Pharmaceuticals of UK. The Khorakiwalas had already made a minor foreign acquisition, of Wallis Laboratories, in 1998. Dr Reddy’s Labs has acquired Betapharm of Germany for $572 million.

Many middle-sized companies, which readers may not even have heard of, are becoming multinationals through foreign acquisitions. Sundaram Fasteners, whose production-line includes humble items like radiator caps, nuts and bolts, has acquired Dana Spicer Europe, the British arm of a global multinational. Separately, Sundaram Fasteners is setting up a plant in China to take on the mighty Chinese. Even Pidilite, maker of Fevicol, has operations in several countries. Amtek Auto, another auto ancillary that came up in the 1990s, has just acquired the GWK group in the UK, which is twice its size. Indian auto ancillary companies are sweeping world export markets and in the process acquiring MNC rivals that cannot compete.
After 30 years of supplying components to UK-based SPP Pumps, Kirloskar Brothers has now acquired a majority stake in the British company. Truly, this is a case of the empire striking back.

Small software companies have become big buyers: Subex Systems has acquired Azure Solutions, UK, for $140 m; and Sasken Tech has bought Botnia of Finland. The top software companies have made multiple acquisitions.

Some years back when Ramesh Chauhan sold his Parle brands to Coca-Cola amidst much criticism, he got a reported Rs. 180 crore. Now Infosys and Wipro propose a takeover of foreign companies of Rs 44,000 crore each ($10Billion each). This is more than the combined GNP of several African and even European countries. The GNP of Guinea Bissau is $ 0.2 billion, of Gambia $ 0.4 billion. The GNP of Armenia is $ 1.7 billion, Albania $ 2.7 billion, Estonia $ 4.9 billion, Latvia $ 5.9 billion. All major Indian software companies are already MNCs. All of them have branches abroad; all do most of their high-end work abroad using foreign employees, and then do the low-end work very cheaply in India. No foreign companies can match this. So suddenly Indian companies look like world-beaters. Infosys is valued in the US stock market at $ 40 billion, more than traditional MNCs like Dow Chemicals, or military-industrial-complex giants like Raytheon and Northrop-Grumman. In the new knowledge economy, brains matter more than physical assets. And it seems Indians can match the world’s best in brain power. This brain power comes to us from our ten thousand year Vedic life style taught to us by our Rishis. If modern India forgets Bharatiya tradition, culture and heritage (as seen in our TVs and movies), Indians in another 500 years will become the dullest people on the globe.

It is not just a question of Indian companies expanding abroad. Simultaneously there has been greater foreign interest in India than at any time before. As the Vodafone offer for Hutch-Essar shows, foreign interests are not shy to invest in India even if the valuations are steep.
So India, which failed to catch the global manufacturing bus, has finally latched onto the global knowledge bus. And that is taking us places in the new knowledge economy. The Indian corporate sector learnt to withstand fierce competition from abroad and then took the battle to the most advanced countries. This is East India Company in reverse.

How are Indian Prahlads and Vamanas conquering foreign Hiranyakashipus and Balis?
In the first nine months of 2006, Indian companies have made foreign acquisitions worth a whopping $7.6 billion, and the money for these acquisitions has come substantially from global financiers. How do Indian Davids manage to acquire foreign Goliaths? Through leveraged buy-outs, getting foreign loans for takeovers. Banks, hedge funds, private equity funds and many other financiers are eager to provide money to Indian businessmen. In some cases Indian companies have raised money from foreign capital markets by issuing Global Depository Receipts. The global financial system now believes that Indian companies will add value to MNCs they acquire abroad, and so, is keen on accelerating the process.
Ten years ago, only the best Indian companies would have been able to borrow abroad, and only on stiff terms. Today, they can get astonishingly low rates. Tata Motors was able this year to issue 5-year convertible yen notes at, effectively, a negative rate of interest!
The notes carried zero interest, and would be redeemed after 5 years at 15% less than face value. Why then would anybody buy these? Because they were convertible into equity shares, at a price 30% higher than on the issuing day. On such soft terms, Indian companies can take over the world.

Earlier, financiers would ask very tough questions about the viability of any Indian proposal. But today companies like Wockhardt and Bharat Forge can simply say that they want the money for foreign takeovers, and the dollars come pouring in.

Why? Because Indian companies are now seen as globally competitive, even as some western MNCs are not. Reliance has a higher international credit rating than General Motors or Ford. It’s clear who should take over whom.

Salute the Indian caste system for India’s business success
The way we are treating our own dalits is a shame for a civilized society. Caste hatred and caste discriminations must go lock stock and barrel. RSS chief Balasaheb Devras has said, “If untouchability is not a crime, nothing in this world is a crime”.

Let us remember what Periyar EVR Ramaswamy Naicker had said, “We have some problems in our caste system. But I am against converting to another religion. I am here to clean my house rather than to burn it or seek shelter in another house”.

One of the great acts of cleaning the caste system was carried out by India’s former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

When India became free, Congress leaders overwhelmingly voted Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel for the post of Prime Minister. Sardar Patel had his roots in Indian heritage and would have made India a Super Power long time back. But heeding to Gandhi ji’s appeals Sardar Patel gracefully offered Prime Minister’s post to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and even accepted to remain in his cabinet as deputy Prime Minister. Pandit ji’s sacrifice for the cause of India’s freedom will remain a source of inspiration for generations to come. But he was a wrong choice for the post of Prime Minister. He was apologetic about his Hindu Heritage and never lost any time to belittle his own religion and culture, while going out of his way to appease minorities. Ideologically Nehru was a communist. He was full of admiration for the Soviets and followed all their five year plans. Later Prime Minister Indira Gandhi too went about nationalising banks and other private enterprises. These steps chocked Indian economy. A proverb in Hindi says, ‘Raja Bane Vyapari, Praja Bane Bhikari’, i.e. when the rulers handle business, people are driven to poverty. In Hindu Bharat, caste system ensured that business was in the hands of Vaishyas and administration in the hands of kshatriyas.

When Atal Behari Vajpayee became Prime Minister in the 90s, the NDA government disinvested many banks and business ventures and gave Indian entrepreneurs more freedom to do business. This is what Hindu India was practicing for thousands of years before the advent of the British. Hindu caste system ensured that business was handled by the vaishya community and they in turn ensured that India was the richest country in Gross Domestic Products, in per capita income and in foreign trade surpluses. India returning to the time proven Hindutva philosophy and the Indian manufacturers proving the validity of caste system and the values of Chanakya and Thiruvalluvar is one of the crowning successes of this era.

India Fast Becoming the Knowledge Centre of the World
India is fast emerging as the global online tutoring hub by delivering top-notch teaching services at down-to-earth rates. Similarly Bharat is also becoming the on-line medical hub. ‘Break a bone in new York, see the X-Ray in Bangalore’ is what they say. Besides being the Call Centre and the Business Process Outsourcing of the world, Bharat is fast becoming the Knowledge Process Outsourcing of the world. General Electric (GE) in India employs 16,000 staff, 1,600 R&D staff that is qualified with PhD’s and Master’s degrees. This is its largest research outfit outside USA. Fundamental research work are done in areas such as nanotechnology, hydrogen energy, photonics, and advanced propulsion. Some of the leading American companies have large presence in Bharat. As on 2002, General Electric employs 17,800 employees. Hewlett Packard – 11,000, IBM - 6,000, American Express – 4,000 and Dell - 3,800 employees. The domestic BPO sector which was $ 4 billion in 2004, is projected to increase to $65 billion by 2010. (McKinsey & Co.). The outsourcing includes a wide range of services including design, architecture, management, legal services, accounting and drug development and the Indian BPOs are moving up in the value chain. There are about 200 call centers in India with a turnover of $2 billion and a workforce of 150,000. 100 of the Fortune 500 are now present in India compared to 33 in China. Cummins of USA uses its R&D Centre in Pune to develop the sophisticated computer models needed to design upgrades and prototypes electronically and introduce 5 or 6 new engine models a year. Business Week of 8th December 2003 has said “Quietly but with breathtaking speed, India and its millions of world-class engineering, business and medical graduates are becoming enmeshed in America’s New Economy in ways most of us barely imagine”.

35% of Silicon Valley start-ups are by Indians. The numbers of patents filed in USA by the Indian entities of some of the MNCs (up to September, 2002) are as follows: Texas Instruments - 225, Intel - 125, Cisco Systems - 120, IBM - 120, Phillips - 102, GE - 95. (about 800)
Indian students are the largest in number among foreign students in USA. 80,000 young Indian professionals are in demand every year in US to maintain US’s leading position in world technology market. Of the US H1-B Visas issued Indians form 44% and rank the highest. Chinese form 9%, Britain 5%, Canada 3%, Taiwan, Japan, France, Germany and Pakistan 2% each. In 2007 USA has decided to issue visas to 8,00,000 Indians next only to Mexico. Imagine India does not share any border with America and imagine what will happen to US economy if Indians decide to migrate out of USA.

IIT = Harvard + MIT + Princeton says CBS ‘60 Minutes’
CBS highly-regarded ‘60 Minutes’, the most widely watched news programme in the US, told its audience of more than 10 Million viewers that “IIT may be the most important university you’ve never heard of. The United States imports oil from Saudi Arabia, cars from Japan, TVs from Korea and Whiskey from Scotland. So what do we import from India? We import people, really smart people,” co-host Leslie Stahl began while introducing the segment on IIT. He further added,

“…the smartest, the most successful, most influential Indians who’ve migrated to the US seem to share a common credential: They are graduates of the IIT.”

“…in science and technology, IIT undergraduates leave their American counterparts in the dust”.

There are “cases where students who couldn’t get into computer science at IIT, they have gotten scholarships at MIT, at Princeton, at Caltech.”

Rich Indians
Laxmi Niwas Mittal has climbed the ladder to become the richest Indian in UK and the third richest in the world. Shrichand Hinduja and Swaraj Paul are some of the other richest ten men in UK. Indian community in Hong Kong, Thailand, USA, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and most European countries are among the richest on the basis of per capita income. Google Inc founder-director Kavitark Ram Shriram and Bose Corporation chairman Amar Gopal Bose have moved up the rankings in the Forbes list of 400 richest Americans. Mr. Bose and Mr. Shriram, who are now US citizens and worth $ 1.5 billion each, have beaten Robert William Galvin of Motorola, Robert Drayton McLane Jr of Wal-Mart and Roy Edward Disney of Walt Disney. Similarly Murli Kewalram Chanrai, Sudhir Gupta and Kartar Singh Thakral have made it to the Singapore’s richest 40 list compiled again by Forbes list. (Ref. Agencies [Saturday, September 23, 2006], published in Sandesh Bharati, Hong Kong, Vol. IX No.4, Oct / Nov / Dec 2006).

So from a small village view, we have progressed to a worldview. Malaysia, Singapore and Sri Lanka celebrate Deepawali festival with declared government holidays and illuminating main streets. Parliament Houses in Canberra (Australian capital), Sydney, London, Ottawa and the senates House in Washington are lit up and Indian cultural shows are staged on the occasion of Deepawali festival. So much for the clout overseas Indians enjoy in these countries.