It's official now: India's the best place to do biz
RASHMEE ROSHAN LALL

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ SATURDAY, JANUARY 07, 2006 01:46:56 AM]

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1362374.cms

LONDON: India has surged ahead of the G8 economies including former powerhouses Japan and Germany, its nearest rival China and Europe’s ‘Celtic Tiger’ Ireland, in a global survey of business confidence seen to mark a seismic shift in the way world economic power is sliding eastwards.

India’s lead comes for the first time ever in the annual four-year-old survey by Grant Thornton International, one of the world’s leading international organisations of independently-owned and managed accounting and consulting firms based in more than 110 countries.

Graeme Forbes, a partner of Grant Thornton said on Friday that the survey, carried out among more than 7,000 owners of medium-sized businesses from 30 countries last autumn 2005 gave Indians the right to be bullish about the future.

He said that the survey, which canvassed a mixed bag of domestic and foreign business owners underlined a startling optimism on the Indian front. The survey says the most optimistic business owners of all, for the third year, are in India with an optimism/pessimism balance of +93, a relentlessly upward surge from +88 in 2004, +83 in 2003 and +25 in 2002.

India’s score is a dramatic contrast to the slump in US business confidence, which comes in at +32, less than half what it was in 2004. The UK, as well, stressed Forbes, is suffering the ill-effects of a Western economic flu, with business confidence falling dramatically from +46 to just +8, lower than the overall European Union average for the first time ever.

In mainland China, said Forbes, where Grant Thornton received permission for the first time ever to canvass the opinion of business owners, the confidence score was +77. “It’s not all that far behind India,” cautioned Forbes, but yes, it does indicate that the bullish mood in India takes it “right to the top of the tree.”

The survey, which marked a dispiriting slump in business confidence in what Forbes described as “the superpowers, in quote marks”, the US, UK and France, gave most of the G8 countries almost nothing to cheer about.

In Western terms, stressed Forbes, the highest confidence scores came from Ireland, which is right behind India at +84. He added that South Africa, which scores +80, was notable too, “fittingly so because the South African economy has done very well in the last three years.”

Forbes said India’s high score did not surprise business managers, who are increasingly finding Western companies, say in Britain “reassured and confident about the increasing volume of work going to India, whether it be in outsourcing or garments or whatever.”

He said that in his experience the survey merely illustrated that there was worldwide acknowledgement and expectation of a “quality product coming out of India, something that may not have been the case five years ago.”
Vishesh Chandiok, Partner and Director of International Business, Grant Thornton, added “India’s business owners continue to thrive and remain optimistic. The economy is buoyant and stock market is breaking all time highs. FDI has increased.

The growing reliance on the private sector and trade liberalisation — here just like in China — is proving fruitful for medium-sized enterprises who are taking full advantage and thriving as a result.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Speech by Thomas Friedman of The New York Times....

"When we were young kids growing up in America, we were told to eat our
vegetables at dinner and not leave them. Mothers said, 'think of the
starving children in India and finish the dinner.' And now I tell my
children: 'Finish your maths homework. Think of the children in India
who would make you starve, if you don't.'"

We are Indian and love to see her growing but believe it or not its ranking in econmic freedom is 118 out of 155 countries. Even Uganda (if I remeber ranks 80th) is freer than India. So I don't agree with your statement.

India still ranks in the last quarter of a world ranking on economic freedom with an index score of 3.5 illustrates the extent to which we are inured to clamps on our rights to trade and invest. One need not agree with all the details of this ranking of 155 countries by The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal to go along with its basic thrust. Hong Kong (which topped the 2005 index for the 11th year running)followed by Singapore.

This global ranking should set aside a lingering delusion among India’s officialdom that one major advantage we have vis-a-vis our emerging economy rivals like China is our wider range of economic freedoms — rule of law and all that! Far from it. China occupies the 112th place when compared to India’s 118th and the report notes that the dragon has reduced tariff barriers since joining the WTO, cut government expenditure and privatised some companies. India, by contrast, has wound up the disinvestment ministry altogether under the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
New Guy
---------------------------
We can always do better!