It’s still January of 2017 and there is enormous work to be done to lift the country and the world out of the morass it has sunk into at the end of the year. I do feel there is reason to be cautiously optimistic about the coming year
It’s January 2018. India has taken its place not only as a full member of the UN Security Council but also as the undisputed leader amongst all nations, clocking a GDP growth of 10% for the last quarter of 2017. Prime Minister Modi, after the breath taking success of his demonetisation program and the success in eliminating both the stock and flow of black money in the system has been hailed all over the world as the tallest international statesman of our times. Donald Trump has done a complete volte face after being sworn in as the US President and built bridges with all nations. And recognising the unmatchable capabilities of the Indian IT talent, he has doubled the visas available for Indian companies and provided fast track citizenship to all Indians in the US. And in a remarkable act of statesmanship, he has worked with the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan to broker a lasting peace in the sub-continent and made “Aman Ki Asha” a reality between the two neighbours!
Okay, okay, wake up the dream is over. It’s still January of 2017 and there is enormous work to be done to lift the country and the world out of the morass it has sunk into at the end of the year. Every successive appointment to the Donald Trump administration has sent shivers down the spines of the moderates and all the threats of the fashion designers that they will not transfer their attention from Michelle Obama to the new First Lady and the other worriers in the US and the world have not dissuaded the President-elect from treading the path he promised in his campaign. The tirade against outsourcing may have initially been against manufacturing firms but the Indian IT sector is still watching to see the effect, the triple whammy of Trump, BREXIT and digital transformation will have on its fortunes, with growth rates al- ready declining to single digits for the first time since 2008.
The implementation issues around demonetisation have created alarms all over the country and with an expected two per cent impact on near term GDP growth it will take a lot of heavy lifting to prevent a slide into a recessionary situation. The move to train and move a large segment of the under served population towards a “Cash Mukt Bharat” is an “abhi- yaan” on the scale of Swachh Bharat or Digital Literacy that gets a lot of support from industry leaders and associations. This does present an opportunity for a truly digital India to emerge on the heels of an e-wallet and e-banking aware population and if a couple of hundred thousand crores of money surfacing in banks reach lakhs of Jan Dhan accounts, it may prove to be an economic and political masterstroke for PM Modi and Government.
Our own industry represented by NASSCOM and NASSSCOM Foundation has worked shoulder to shoulder with the Government to ensure that many of our young employees work on volunteering campaigns to educate people in the surrounding slums and other hamlets in key IT cities on the virtues and methods of going digital. Digitising India is no longer a dream, it’s fast becoming a reality and in our own city of Pune, a visionary Municipal Commissioner Kunal Kumar and the support of many agencies like Pune City Connect with its ambitious Skills Lighthouse and 100 per cent Digital Literacy initiative for the city will ensure that our city stays ahead of the pack. It is a somewhat sad fallout of the cash shortage in the economy that the retail and manufacturing sector has drifted into low growth after all the positive signs of a manufacturing revival around Diwali time and one hopes that by the middle of the year, we should see the economy chugging on all cylinders again.
“The Indian IT sector is still watching to see the effect, the triple whammy of Trump, BREXIT and digital transformation will have on its fortunes...”
On other fronts, there is significant promise in the New Year. The entrepreneurial juices continue to flow in the country with angel funds and venture capital available aplenty for worthy initiatives with good management teams. We have seen an excellent response from CEO and CHROs to one of our incubated start-ups, Skills Alpha which has built a category creating digital platform for career management and adaptive learning for young employees in large organisations and opportunities galore for new economy entrepreneurs who have the intellect to create some- thing new and the staying power to build product-market connects before they seek external funding.
And when all is well with Indian cricket, all looks well for the country. The indomitable Virat Kohli has knit a first-class team together and while the real tests will follow when they tour, the competitiveness of this team and the entrepreneurial risks they are willing to take will serve as a role model for youth in every sector of business and other activity in the country. The new focus on hockey, soccer, badminton and even kabbadi will ensure that modern youth do not just have to obsess with their cricketing Gods. So, I do feel there is reason to be cautiously optimistic about the coming year. Let’s hope you all feel the same way!
By Dr. Ganesh Natarajan
