Emerging global markets-BRIC to ABICI?

 

There has been something very interesting at the global forum in Cape Town recently. The focus was mostly on the developing world which was viewed as a new opportunity in the merging global markets. The world, in the words of Bill Clinton was too unequal and unsustainable to be really stable. The bottom line is of course always on the sustainable and renewable natural resources for the future generations. With China, India, Brazil and surprisingly parts of Africa doing pretty well, the notable omission happens to be Russia from the popular expression of BRIC. Indonesia has certainly attracted the best nations as a prospective investment opportunity and leaders opined at this forum that that the new acronym ought to be ABICI-Africa,Brazil,India,China and Indonesia!  Mckinsey's global managing director Dominic Barton's view that the story of recession was the trend toward an accelerated growth in the developing world which was set in motion even before the recession commenced is worth paying some attention. Low cost innovation in the poor world which can sell goods and services to all is perhaps a phenomenal skill from which the future of the world's economy rests today. So we are actually talking about 84% of the world's population which is outside the prominent axis which clearly defines the task cut out for the global corporate business. Thus leads us to the infrastructure scenario in several countries including the African Continent. Exporting raw materials and allowing the world to make rich use of them while having value added processes within the country has been the African experiment. Managing natural resources is quite rightly at the centre of the discussion.Is it true that there is an extraordinary relation between China's and Africa's dynamics of growth? Yes of course, for one simple reason that China has moved in a more pragmatic manner into these regions than India has even contemplated. Business and global business is an exercise in the requisite mindset and a clear readiness to think out of the box rather than sticking to some ridiculous processes rooted deep in Bureauracy and red-tapism. So we have the Tanzanians despising Indians and stretching their arms for the Chinese...The second pointer has been management of talent. China owes a lot to the private sector in this regard and no wonder the nation generated tremendous employment in the private sector. Participation of women is a glaring aspect just as the Indian scenario loses out heavily on this ground.Well. The forum points out and rightly so, the development of infrastructure. If you draw an inference from the previous parameter of knowledge management, you will see that the Chinese profited from their skills acquired abroad and utilised them in building infrastructure in the relatively poor western provinces. Take India where there is hardly any interface between the skills of one State and another. Of course, China has not been totally embraced by the African nations. There have been some resentments but the truth always stays there-It succeeded where India failed!Fourthly, we have the option of cleaning up the Administrative processes and make governance deliver the goods-Singapore stands empirical in this regard and we in India could be learning for another century...Irrespective of the GDP growth and the policies being followed in India in the wake of recession, India does appear to have overlooked the leverage it could have gained in establishing itself at least as an alternative to China in African nations where it could have definitely left a mark. The World Bank desires to partner with India for developing infrastructure in Rail transport in the developing world and it remains to be seen if the Indian Government views it with a clear holistic vision.