We went to the Ministry of Telecommunications and the Ministry of Rural Development. In both places, we were entertained in long conference rooms with individual microphones for each seat, which was a good thing because it was difficult to hear anybody on the other end of the table.
They talked about the growth in India. The Ministry of Telecommunications is laying down the infrastructure to make it easy for MNCs and local sourcing companies to set up shop here. Their national policy is “technology neutral;” that is, CDMA and GSM are both available in the country. As a result of their policies, India’s wireless industry is the fastest growing in the world at 140% per year. Their challenge is the low “teledensity levels” in India; only 11% of the country has wireless penetration. Their goal for the near future is 22%. They’re focusing only on wireless, because land lines are much more expensive – 22K to 30K rupees investment required for land lines, compared to 4K to 5K rupees for wireless.
The Ministry of Rural Development aims to create “self sufficiency in agriculture.” They hope to do this by solving the irrigation problem. However, there are other problems, like population control, illiteracy, and corruption.
They are using policies to improve the rural areas. Affirmative action is mandatory in public institutions and is now becoming more prevalent in private institutions as well.
As in China, Indian parents prefer baby boys to baby girls. Because the parents depend on their sons to provide for them in their old age, they keep having children until they have a boy. So India reduces population growth by offering free tuition from grade school all the way to post-graduate studies to families with only one child, if that child is a girl.
Observations, insights, and lessons learned
I can imagine that it is difficult to quantify the effects of individual government policies or regulations as they help or hinder the outsourcing / offshoring growth. They can only measure whether the industry is growing and by how much, but they can’t really attribute it to any one policy or regulation. Or maybe I just don’t know enough about economics to figure it out.
Trips like this, where we get to talk with a wide range of speakers, give me a wide overview of the world. I am not only thinking of IT, but also of agriculture and industries at the fringe of the outsourcing and offshoring movement.
As an entrepreneur, I would have to pay attention to government and politics as well. The government is always a partner, either directly (as in China) or indirectly. And since I'll be an MNC, the government in each country I’m in is also a partner in my business. Yes, I know that the government is a stakeholder, but that does not sufficiently acknowledge the power that the government has in a business. The government is really more an active partner than a passive stakeholder.
Haggling as a sport
At the end of the day, we got dropped off at a cottage industry emporium. Todd’s wife Anne told us the process: You pick what you like, take it to the counter, and they give you a slip which includes the total price. Then when you’re done shopping, you take the slips downstairs, pay for your purchases, and claim your merchandise. I bought twelve woven pillowcases with ornate designs. Mahdad told me about the Indian textiles that change color as they move under the light, so that’s what I looked for. And they are very beautiful. I don’t think they’re made to be paired because it took me a long while to find matching ones. And they are so ornate that having two in one room would probably be too much.
Vases on sale at the cottage industry emporium. more pics
I was able to get more dollars changed at the ground floor of the emporium, although it made me a bit nervous carrying that thick wad around. Christina and I got hungry in the middle of our shopping, so we went across the street to – guess where! – good old McDonald’s! Well, the menu is different, of course. I got a Paneer Salsa Wrap which was vegetarian. The patty was made of cheese, but it had the consistency of tofu, so I thought it was tofu. Well, I paid for that mistake in the evening.
We got back to the emporium and checked out the remaining three floors that we hadn’t seen yet. I only got some key chains, in addition to my pillowcases.
I had seen a sign saying “pashmina shawls” kitty-corner from the emporium so we crossed the street (we’re becoming experts at crossing) and browsed the shops there. I found some purses made of the same color-shifting material. Christina got a beautiful blue bedspread with four matching pillowcases. And I got a marble chess set. I was having fun haggling; it’s a sport now.
When we were loaded up with packages, we decided to head back to the hotel before meeting with the rest of the class for dinner at Olive. A rickshaw shadowed us when he saw us loaded with bags. Mani had told us it should cost us about 200 rupees to get back to the hotel from the emporium. I didn’t hear it but Christina did. The driver asked for 70 rupees. I said that we spent 40 rupees to get there. (I lied, of course, since we were dropped off by the bus.) Then three teenage boys selling handkerchiefs came by. They spoke English so they intervened between us and the driver. The driver insisted that it’s 70 rupees because it’s nighttime, so we finally agreed. It turned out that the driver didn’t even know where Adchini is, so we stopped several times so he could ask someone. In the end, we decided to give him 100 rupees.
After dropping off our goodies, we took a rickshaw to meet up with our classmates at Olive, which is supposedly the best five-star restaurant in town. And no wonder! It was a really nice place. We sat in a courtyard with tree lights and candles and large pans of charcoal to keep us warm. I ordered the Parma Wrapped Chicken and it was good, but I couldn’t finish it because we had just eaten at McD’s a couple of hours prior. But we had a great time and great conversation. Cost of my dinner: under US$20.
Adventure of the day
Today was the first time I used a traditional Indian bathroom. Imagine a regular toilet but bury it in the ground so that the seat is level with the floor. Then replace the seat with a corrugated ceramic platform on which to step on. To be honest, this is much better than the outhouse of the home of my late great aunts, where I spent my childhood summers. That outhouse simply had a hole on the ground. At least these Indian toilets have plumbing. I’ve also noticed that the bathroom stalls are walled in. The walls go from floor to ceiling and so do the doors most of the time, so it's more private compared to the bathroom stalls in the US.
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