Emergence of India as a Financial Super-power
The BRIC report spoke of the emergence of Brazil, Russia, India and China as the markets to watch out for over the next 50 years. But little did the writers of the report know that BRIC countries could also emerge as the next financial super houses of the world. I guess that was understood that with economic strength, financial strength would also follow, but little did we know that it would be the financial strength that would lead to becoming an economic super-power.
The sequel of events that have unraveled in 2008 in the US and European financial sector has much larger global impact than what meets the eye. The implications and the fall out from these would have far deeper effects that would shape the contours of international finance markets in the years ahead. What were once the behemoths and the invincibles of the Wallstreet have all fallen like dominos. It seems like all were a band of brothers, rising and falling together till the end. Anyway I would not delve into the reasons that led to the collapse of all the Wallstreet “invincibles”. Its out there in the open for everyone to see, that the i-bankers were really gambling with everyone’s money. On hindsight it seems they have been rightly called i-bankers. The “i” has been aptly popularized by Apple representing the generation which is more self centric and puts the self before the rest. These bankers too it seems were more concerned about the bonuses flowing into their kitty and gave a little, if any, regard to the company’s very existence.
Moving back to original discussion, I feel the current financial crisis before us would realign the global financial markets and US could lose its dominance in this arena. This saga of American brand erosion had started long time back when the first outsourcing of manufacturing and services took place from America to China and India in order to capitalize on the economic savings these destinations offered. Slowly and gradually over the years, the proportion of manufacturing activities that got outsourced to China and BPOs & KPOs that emerged in India, was a clear tell all sign of the changing dimensions of global economic balance. America continued to focus more on the front end in all its business spheres. Americas banking industry and Wallstreet was also not spared and most of the processes involved in these sectors were outsourced. Having worked on these high end wallstreet deals, the Indian KPO have developed a skill set that is now incomparable to any in the world. Now with the high street i-banks having disappeared, the knowledge base in India is all set to support and develop the domestic i-banks in a big way.
But a financial super-power doesn’t only mean having investment banks up and running. The biggest push for financial independence of the country would emerge from the domestic consumption of its over a billion citizens. …..More to follow in this series…. Keep watching the space….
