Wanna know how fast India is growing???

India is still labelled an emerging market, but the Forbes magazine has argued that the country's economy has already emerged. And as the economy spreads its wings, its companies are turning to new international markets, perhaps beginning a reverse imperialism.

For proof, the US business magazine lists not only the recent high profile acquisitions by Indian firms, but also facts such as four of the top 10 billionaires in the world are Indian, and that with an annualised five-year total return of 42.2 percent, India comes second after Brazil in terms of the growth of the world's largest public companies.

In comparison, the growth percentage in Britain and the US are 17.1 percent and 11.1 percent respectively, indicating that the balance of economic power in the world is starting to shift, the magazine said in a commentary piece in its latest issue Friday.

The reason for this reversal of fortunes is that for established companies in the US and Britain it is difficult to grow as quickly as those expanding from nothing, as is the case for start-ups in India.

During the 18th century, when the British colonised India and started exploiting the subcontinent's vast natural resources and to expand trade, tea became an important commodity and came to symbolise British colonial rule.

In a case of reverse imperialism, Tata Tea, part of the diversified Tata Group, bought Tetley, Britain's largest tea company, in 2000. Tata Tea has since become the second largest tea manufacturer in the world by volume, surpassed only by Unilever, based in London and Rotterdam.

This March, in another example of British brands being picked up by an old colony, Tata Motors acquired Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford for $2.3 billion. Tata Motors hopes the acquisitions will boost its ability to be a "meaningful player" in the global market.

India's monetary muscle is strengthened by a cheap domestic labour market and its companies' high price-to-earnings ratios, the magazine quoted Tarun Khanna, a professor at Harvard Business School, as saying.

The author of "Billions of Entrepreneurs: How China and India Are Reshaping Their Futures and Yours" added: "Unlike China where companies are state- and government-led, in India, it is people's own money."

Now even smaller Indian companies are able to collaborate with bigger counterparts in other markets - even those in other former colonies.

Last week India's biggest telecom firm, Bharti Airtel, called off merger talks with South Africa's largest provider of cellphone service, MTN Group, because of disagreements over the deal's terms.

Promptly, Reliance Communications, India's second largest telecom firm, entered talks with MTN. The potential MTN-Reliance merger will result in over 100 million customers, a network larger than that of AT&T, the largest in the US.
The shared colonial past, actually, is an advantage for Indian companies, Khanna told Forbes. "Imperialism is laying the seeds of global chess with Indian companies naturally capitalising on their shared history," he said.

My thoughts on being a better speaker and orator..

Preface : Lets do it before we die

People usually ask how do the orators and the speech makers stand in front of thousands of people and give a speech without any nervousness or jerks. I am usually intrigued by these questions. Because before my debut as a speaker and an event host few years back, I also had the very same thoughts.
Dear friends, nervousness is inevitable. It is a part of any success story. Nervousness always informs you that you have scopes for improvement. Without the pinch of nervousness, our rate of improvement shall definitely stop because we shall become overconfident and start taking life for granted. So, what I mean to say is that don't bother about nervousness because it is a natural mechanism just like fever. When we have any infection, our body temperature rises, this is a natural mechanism that is devised to kill the infection budding in our body. So, when we undertake any adventurous work, our mind sences the deficiencies and alerts us that we must improve ourselves the next time if we want to survive the competition.

Chapter One: Dealing with the fear factor

The first problem that is faced by any person before his debut on the stage is the fear factor. I had specially been the observer of this phenomenon since a very long time. And the good news is that I have the solution. Apart from that we all shall agree that it is the most difficult to think on the feet and specially on the stage it is almost 'IMpossible!!'. But I would say, thinking on the feet and while on the stage is more interesting and beneficial because you are in a dynamic environment. You are getting real-time feedback which you can use on your next statement. But, mind you friends, this is a pure art and needs dedication and a scientific approach. Everything is possible but it requires time, practice and a little guidance (for which I am writing this for you). Third, you might think "how can I engage the audience for the time allotted to me". "If I am not allowed to take any material with me, how can I recall my notes". "If I forget a point , I will get embarassed. So, Its better to live the humble man's life and forget to become a hero" or "This is perhaps not my game."

Let me tell you that all can be overcome but you should make the first move to get rid of your fear. Don't let the fear to control you. There's a great saying "A lot of talents get wasted in the country only because of a little courage". You never know what you have in you. You have to explore yourself to find that out. Lots of people have succeed in life because they found out what they are good at, at the right time. And lots of people have miserably failed in life because they failed to find out what they are good at. This is the bottom line!! Since it occurred to you that you have to get onto the stage; it shows that maybe something in you is giving a call. But it is upto you to help it come out.

Let me tell you one thing very clearly. If you do something, do it the best. Some people might say that it doesn't matter what will be the outcome of the first trial...at least you have made the try. But I say No!!!. If you have decided to take the plunge. Take it but make it the BEST of the BEST. In the upcoming chapters, I shall show you how to do it. But remember, I am training you to be the best and what can be more pleasing and satisfying to hear tons of applauses after giving your first and maiden speech. Infact, after I ended my maiden speech, our college technical director told me that I am better than him. I want this same magic to happen with you.

A file photo of myself delivering the ACM Chairman Speech during the innauguration ceremony of ICAC2008 Conference, India. (Feb 20-21, 2008)

Chapter Two: How to harness our stage-fear to our advantage?

Dear friends, as I already told you that we have to make friendship with our fear because everything which comes out of us belongs to us. Fear is a part of our imagination. We should not destroy the imagination but rather harness it to our advantage. There are certain ways of doing so. Let us tackle one by one.

Usually when we agree to appear in front of the stage, there isn't much of a fuss about it. But as the D-Day comes nearer, the tension grows inside us. This is natural. It means our natural tendencies are alerting us that we should stop taking things into granted and start practicing. Some people get the thought from somewhere that its a better idea not to practice before the speech but should go to deliver right on stage. This is what I call a perfect non-sense suicidal attempt. They see eloquoint orators coming onto the stage and speak confidently and they think that if the orators can do it, why can't they? But what they didn't saw was the practice and hardwork that the orators had done before facing the audience. The sleepless nights that they had forgone to give that tantalizing performance.

Thus we can say that when our tension starts mounting while the D-Day starts getting closer, get to practice immediately. The more the practice, the more confident you shall become and the more confident you become the more you have successfully harnessed your fear.

The trade secret of the perfect method of practicing shall come in latter chapters but you continue reading.

Upcoming
1. The moral responsibility of the speakers.
2. How to speak to become a motivational speaker?
3. Speaking leads to self-respect and honour.
4. No fooling around with the audience
5. Are you feeling mediocre even after being a speaker for several years?

(to be continued.....)