NEW DELHI: "In seven years India could be the fastest growing economy in the world just by leveraging its strength of the largest base of young people through education and training," said Sudhir Jalan, vice chairman, SICPA India Ltd and former president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). Unlike India, developed nations such as Japan and several in the West are faced with a large ageing population, Jalan pointed out Friday at a two-day workshop here on "People First - The New Dimension of Business". "I am sure if India leverages its base of the largest young population from a position of strength as China is doing, we should be able to achieve 10 percent annual growth as against 5.5-6.5 percent growth now," said Jalan. Citing a study done by the All India Management Association earlier this year with the help of Boston Consulting Group, Jalan said: "In the next two decades developed countries will face a shortfall of fuel (skilled professionals) and once again will have to look towards developing countries to make up the shortfall." The net workforce shortfall of skilled professions in developed nations by 2020 is estimated to be 32-39 million. "This challenge faced by some countries presents a great opportunity for some developing countries, such as India. India can target this shortage by providing remote services to these countries and also by improving customers and servicing their needs in India," the report stated. R.K. Somany, president of the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), revealed that what struck him most during his recent visit to China was the fact that "Chinese look upon its growing population as their biggest strength. So why should we look at our population as a drag?" The experts stressed that with the changing concept of business and the knowledge economy driving growth, there was a revival of the "direct equation with the customer". This has led to the era where the human mind and not machines dominate, said Rajendra S. Pawar, chairman of NIIT Ltd., one of the country's leading computer training and software development companies. "The knowledge economy is bringing back the best tradition of communication. With it the dependence on human mind is coming back," said Pawar. According to Pawar, the need today was for "leaders to perpetually create dreams and inspire people to keep the process going". Jalan supported this view by citing the examples of Japan, South Korea and Israel, which have inspired its people to withstand adversities and lack of natural resources to become a thriving economy. Similarly, the displaced Sindhis of Pakistan and Marwaris and Gujaratis in India have overcome lack of resources to become thriving communities only due to their ideas and perseverance, said Jalan. "Today what makes for success are not material resources but personnel. It is time to leverage our resources to motivate and harness latent talent within us," said Jalan. Terming the global economy as boundary-less as far as flow of technology, knowledge, finance and resources are concerned, managing director of Synergy Consultants Gurdeep S. Hora said business today was people driven. "Today there is no alternative to people first," said Hora.
Source: IANS