[Assam] Assam:FROM INDIA BUSINESS SCHOOLS TO TOP OF WORLD'S BOARDROOMS

[Chan Mahanta]

Dear BK,


>  >In spite of desi democracy, wanton lack of 
>accountability, falling of academic standards, 
>and what not,  the surprising thing about  India 
>is that her sons are now ready to play a bigger 
>role in the rest of the world.


I wouldn't grudge you your optimism. Without 
optimism we could not exist. But such optimism 
has to be grounded to reality and has to be 
viewed in perspective.

And to do so, one must not AVOID asking, or 
ignore the reality, of WHY Rajat Guptss of India 
or Bhuban Baruahs of Assam HAD to leave.

>  >    "Ten years ago, an overseas posting for a 
>colleague would be viewed with envy, but today 
>it is not a big deal," said Roopa Kudva, 
>director and chief rating officer with Standard 
>& Poor's Crisil in Mumbai. "There are more 
>people who want to work here because India 
>itself is turning out to be a bigger story."
>


Or for that matter, NOT question the validity of 
statements like above. For example, WHO are these 
people that do not ENVY an 'overseas posting'? 
How many are they? What percentage of the 
population it represents? And based on that if it 
could be presented as the prevailing reality of 
India?

And if it could not be presented, even remotely, 
as a significant number or percentage, then is it 
something for us to credibly peg our optimism on?


>  >--- her sons are now ready to play a bigger role in the rest of the world.


*** That could be something to salve the 
national-inferiority inflicted wounds of desis 
abroad or the nuevo-rich  class of India who have 
graduated from the school of survival and are 
seeking RESPECT from the world. But does it mean 
ANYTHING at all to the vast millions of our 
compatriots?

What do you think?

Best regards,

c










At 11:03 AM -0400 8/24/06, BBaruah at aol.com wrote:
>Content-Type: text/html; charset="UTF-8"
>Content-Language: en
>
>
>
>This morning I was very much heartened to read 
>in Assam Tribune that one Naimur Rahman from 
>Milanpur, Guwahati, is the  Project Manager, 
>Commonwealth Connects, in the field of 
>information and communication technology (ICT) 
>of the Commonwealth. He is the son of Sabibur 
>Rahman, a retired PWD Chief Engineer of Assam. 
>Then I read in The International Herald Tribune 
>the news with the headline above, the text below 
>(accompanying photograph dropped).
>
>
>
>In spite of desi democracy, wanton lack of 
>accountability, falling of academic standards, 
>and what not,  the surprising thing about  India 
>is that her sons are now ready to play a bigger 
>role in the rest of the world.
>
>
>
>Bhuban
>
>
>
>By Mary Habe Credeur and Ashok Bhattacharjee
>
>ATLANTA: When Rajat Gupta could not find a 
>decent job in India after earning a degree in 
>mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute 
>of Technology in Delhi in 1971, he did what many 
>of his compatriots did.
>
>      He moved to the United States. He attended 
>Harvard Business School, then landed a job at 
>the New York office of McKinsey in 1973. 
>Twenty-one years later, in 1994, Gupta, 57, 
>became the first foreign-born chief executive of 
>the consulting firm.
>
>      As Gupta's rise illustrates, PepsiCo, which 
>last week named Indra Nooyi as its next chief 
>executive, was not the first global corporation 
>to recognize the calibre of executive talent 
>from India. The annual reports of many large 
>companies show Indians are landing big jobs. And 
>like Gupta and Nooyi, most are products of an 
>investment in higher education the country made 
>more than 40 years ago.
>
>"There is a huge demand for Indian executives," 
>said Rana Talwar, the former chief executive of 
>Standard Chartered in London who runs Sabre 
>Capital, a buyout firm. "The quality of the 
>education is very good. And Indians can adapt to 
>any environment. When we grew up, we got used to 
>adverse conditions."
>
>      Those coming of age in the executive suite 
>often were educated at one of two institutions 
>founded in the 1950s and 1960s:IIT or the Indian 
>Institute of Management. Created after India 
>achieved independence from Britain in 1947, they 
>were designed to train leaders for India's 
>postwar industrial development.
>
>      They did, but not only for India. Arun 
>Sarin, chief executive of Vodafone Group in 
>Newbury, England, graduated from IIT Kharagpur. 
>So did Ajit Jain, a potential successor to 
>Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway in Omaha, 
>Nebraska. Nooyi, 50, earned her degree at IIM in 
>Calcutta.
>
>      At least eight of the 500 biggest companies 
>in the world are headed by Indians. Lakshmi 
>Mittal, Chairman of Mittal Steel, based in 
>Rotterdam, runs the world's largest steel maker; 
>Mukesh Ambani is chief executive of Reliance 
>Industries, the largest nonstate company in 
>India; and Ramani Ayer is chief executive of 
>Hartford Financial Services Group, based in 
>Haratford, Connecticut.
>
>      Part of what makes Indian graduates 
>desirable is their willingness to move for a 
>job, said Ajay Banga, chief executive of 
>Citigroup's $18.3 billion Global Consumer Group 
>International in New York. Banga should know. He 
>has relocated 10 times in 25 years. Banga's 
>first job was with Nestlé in Delhi 1981, which 
>moved to Calcutta and Mumbai. He returned to 
>Delhi to work for PepsiCo in 1995, then went to 
>Madras when he was hired by Citigroup in 1996.
>
>
>
>      Three months later, the bank offered him a 
>senior marketing position in London. "My boss 
>said 'Ajay, you've got aspirations beyond what 
>you're doing. Come to Lonondon and be the 
>marketing head,'" Banga said. "If I had stayed 
>in India, I would have been lucky to just become 
>the marketing director of some company there."
>
>      Nooyi's older sister, Chandrika, paved the 
>way for her to leave India, moving to Beirut 
>with Citibank shortly after graduating from IIM 
>in Ahmedabad. Nooyi left next, followed by her 
>younger brother, Narayanan, who studied at Yale 
>in 1981 when he was 17, Nooyi's mother, Shantha 
>Krishnamoorthy, said.
>
>      "There was a lot of opposition at home from 
>the elders to letting Chandrika go to Beirut 
>the," Krishnamoorthy said during an interview 
>from Madras.
>
>      "I would console my mother by saying that 
>"The candle has to melt to let the light 
>shine,'" she said. She told her mother to think 
>of her "as the candle. Somone has to make a 
>sacrifice if the children are to do well."
>
>      The attitude complements the rigorous 
>education, much of it American-inspired, at the 
>ITT and IIM schools. One in 50 applicants to the 
>IIT shools is accepted, and at the IIM 
>management college in Ahmedabad, the rate is one 
>in 532, according to the Economist Intelligence 
>Unit rankings. At the Stanford Graduate School 
>of  Business, one in 13 is accepted.
>
>      Even with the education, staying in India 
>would have meant working for the government or a 
>private company making the equivalent of $60 or 
>$70 a month, said Vinod Gupta, who went to 
>University of Nebraska after graduating from IIT 
>Kharagpur in 1967.
>
>      Gupta, no relation to McKinsey's Rajat 
>Gupta, founded InfoUSA in 1971 after his job was 
>eliminated at a mobile-home manufacturer. 
>InfoUSA, based in Omaha, Nebraska, owns a 
>database of consumers and business used by 
>Internet sites.
>
>      When Gupta visited his hometown of Rampur, 
>a few years ago, he ran into an old IIT 
>classmate. He was selling vegetables from a 
>small stand on the sidewalk.
>
>      "If I had not come to American, I might be 
>stuck in that same village selling 
>vegetables,"Gupta said.
>
>      But things are changing. With India's 
>economy growing 9 percent to 10 percent 
>annually, many graduates - and some who left the 
>country - are remaining in the country, or 
>returning home.
>
>      "Ten years ago, an overseas posting for a 
>colleague would be viewed with envy, but today 
>it is not a big deal," said Roopa Kudva, 
>director and chief rating officer with Standard 
>& Poor's Crisil in Mumbai. "There are more 
>people who want to work here because India 
>itself is turning out to be a bigger story."
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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