Only a few days into my trip in India, I am questioning everything I thought I knew about the scale of the potential and the size of the challenges of this fascinating country. The opportunities are just as big as the problems. The scope of what it takes to help a society of this size prosper involves big numbers and requires big ideas. You can’t talk about an approach to anything, it seems (progress, poverty, the economy) without finding yourself up against the word “billion.” Billions of rupees required, billions of hours of productivity at risk, or billions of gains if India can get some of the big questions right.
India is one of the most populous places on the planet. People are everywhere. And a lot of them are young. India’s youth population is one of the biggest in the world, and is moving into the workplace with a fury. This is part of the reason for the boom in global technology that India is helping to drive. With so many young and capable people as a resource, it is no surprise that some of the coolest innovations today are powered by Indian companies.
A current issue of The Economist claims that India may be “losing its magic.” I read the article with interest and have been thinking a lot about how a country of this size maintains momentum. While I am no expert on the socio-economics of India, I can tell you one thing: the answer can be found within the people. As I sat with some work colleagues the other morning watching thousands of young Indians marching to work, smart, globally savvy and motivated, it sure looked like things would be full-steam-ahead in India – at least in the short-term. With so many big things at stake, it is in everybody’s interest that they get it right. Billions of us, all 7 billion, are counting on it.