To gain access to new markets, India needs to open up her own markets — and improve technical capabilities so that Indian companies are better equipped to play in the global arena
In a rather candid conversation last year with Forbes India, Sunil Mittal, chairman, Bharti Enterprises told us, “Now, India is done. Of course, there is still some growth left. I’m not saying it’s all over… but we need to expand our horizons and go out of India.” The context was Mittal’s Bharti Airtel bid for MTN, the largest telecom services provider in Africa. The stock markets perceived this a foolhardy attempt and hammered Airtel’s stock down to its lowest levels in a long, long time.
Mittal though remained unperturbed and clear on why Airtel had to be in Africa. It is home to a middle class variously estimated at anything between 350 million and 500 million people, as large, if not larger than India’s. If his company intended to sustain the momentum it had gained in India, it needed access to new markets.Pointer #1: Engage Strategically
In some sense, where India finds itself now is where Sunil Mittal found himself when he first got into the telecom business. In the past, technology development in the country was need-based and not driven by any ‘grand national plan’. India, therefore, has remained a buyer of technology, limited by its resources and not a creator of technology.
(This story appears in the 27 August, 2010 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)