Reflections on India

The U.S. and India may be thousands of miles apart, but in many ways, we are getting a lot closer.  One sign of growing U.S.-India ties is the introduction of direct flights that connect the two countries.  It's a relatively new phenomenon and was definitely nice to get on the Boeing 777 aircraft in New Delhi and get off in New York, albeit after 15 hours!

From a business perspective, I also wanted to share some reflections from the conversations I had during my recent visit to India:

A)  Even seasoned business people are surprised at how much today's economies are globally connected.  The current economic crisis has definitely brought that recognition to the forefront as capital has moved across borders in stunning fashion, having direct impact on Indian businesses of all sizes.

B) It is indeed very ironic to hear the leaders of emerging economies advising the developed economies not to adopt protectionist tendencies as a way to "solve" the current crisis.  We have truly come full circle!

C) Despite the magnitude of the economic meltdown underway, I noticed a fundamental optimism in India about the country's long term prospects.  Comments like "this is not a demand problem, but a financing problem that can be fixed" are quite common.

D) Economists of all ilks are trying to understand and explain what's happening in the global markets.  However, there is a growing recognition that the knock on ("second order" is the technical term) effects are unknowable at this stage.  In other words, there are a lot of unknown unknowns!

All these comments reinforce that we live in a dynamic inter-connected world.  More on that in future blogs...