25 February 2006

The future matters

"The future matters… it cannot be avoided or ignored just because we are necessarily ignorant of what it will bring."
- Bill Emmott, who recently resigned as the editor of The Economist

It's difficult for a developing economy to sustain itself. Although various economic models have been tested over the years, still no developing economy has been able to arrive at a model which is viable. Most models rely on foreign capital and, without help from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, as well as foreign private capital, they would probably be nowhere today.

India has attracted its fair share of this foreign capital. Thankfully so, as it has helped expand the Indian economy and initiate growth we had not seen before. The Indian economy is booming, visibly so in the IT, ITES, telecommunication, construction, and consumer retail industries. Now, India not only has cutting-edge technologies at its disposal to build its economy, it also participates in creating solutions for other markets abroad. Most importantly, India has somehow managed to leapfrog onto the service sector, using homegrown talent, bypassing the entire rigmarole of industrialization which has plagued many a developed nation.

The Indian government's policies are also changing in tandem with this changing economic scenario - to position India as not just a developing nation, but a force to reckon with in the future. All hands are on deck. And the forthcoming budget is likely to be a promising one, fuelling further growth for the country. If the future mattered to India before, it matters even more now. No longer shall we remain ignorant.

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