India: From a land of Snake Charmers to Job Stealers
I was watching this episode of The Sopranos where Tony Soprano starts talking to his daughter (Meadow Mariangela Soprano) about her school subjects. India pops up as one of the subjects. And dad says what do you study about India? Diarrhea?
What the hell! First India was known as a land of snake charmers and magic flying carpets. And now, it is more known as the Outsourcing Hub and the land of job stealers. Where did this diarrhea drop in from?
India will become the world’s second largest mobile phone market and to have about 650 million telephone users by 2012, perhaps one of the largest in the world.
Total number of phones expanded by 41.8 million in just six months to touch 248.6 million in the current fiscal. India adds 6.5 million phones every month on an average.
The defense sector, Indian Army is the world’s second largest army in terms of military personnel.
The richest sports teams Cricket India $US1500 Million, putting behind Soccer Manchester United $US1373 Million.
We Indians are the world’s biggest bookworms, reading on average 10.7 hours a week, twice as long as Americans and the British.
50 years back India’s annual growth was 3.5% and today it is little above 9%. Back then around 18% Indian’s were literate, while today it’s over 60%. The amount spent on public health was Rs. 22 crore and today it roughly around a whopping Rs. 22,000 crore. The rural poverty line has decreased from 47% to 28%. On the global competitiveness report, today India ranks 43rd, two slots higher than last year.
It would be an understatement to say that India is a country of contrasts and complexities. Occupying 2.4 percent of the world’s land mass, it is home to one billion people; more than 15 percent of the world’s population. Twenty-two languages (not including English) are recognized in the Indian Constitution. Although 80 percent of the people are Hindu, India is the home of more than 120 million Muslims (making it the third-largest Muslim nation in the world). Information technology (IT), business outsourcing, and “medical tourism” are hallmarks of a country with a 6.2 percent gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate as compared to 4.4 percent for the United States and 2.4 percent for the European Union.
India will become the world’s second largest mobile phone market and to have about 650 million telephone users by 2012, perhaps one of the largest in the world.
Total number of phones expanded by 41.8 million in just six months to touch 248.6 million in the current fiscal. India adds 6.5 million phones every month on an average.
The defense sector, Indian Army is the world’s second largest army in terms of military personnel.
The richest sports teams Cricket India $US1500 Million, putting behind Soccer Manchester United $US1373 Million.
We Indians are the world’s biggest bookworms, reading on average 10.7 hours a week, twice as long as Americans and the British.