Opportunities abound

The wealth creator suddenly has greater access to the one missing factor of production: money.
Gautam Chikermane
As you read these lines, there’s an exciting career being born in this country, a career that could also generate remarkable wealth. If you venture into it, you will get a monthly salary that will range from above average to lavish. This is aside from a heavy pot of gold waiting at the end of the rainbow–if you get to the end, that is. I’m talking about entrepreneurship. With the changing nature of the big picture, smaller opportunities are coming at us at warp speed. Yes, the Internet and its slew of accompanying technologies is the one major driver of this career, but even outside of the bits and bytes, our country is changing–for the better. Indians are sitting at the cutting edge of the digital revolution, new prosperity is forcing markets to mature, corruption is down, licences are virtually over, and most important, the face of capital markets is changing.
India has been, is, and hopefully will remain, a nation of entrepreneurs. The one change that the financial markets are driving today is putting resources in the hands of the prime driver. The entrepreneur suddenly has greater access to the one factor of production that has been missing in her quest to create wealth: money. For four decades after freedom, India Inc remained chained and enterprise was sacrificed at the altar of greater good, or socialism. Hence the licences, the inspectors, the harassment, the corruption, the babus, the politicians–a mixture potent enough to shoo away the most dynamic among men. And yet Indian enterprise survived. But only just. It could not, for instance, ensure economies of scale that have helped China advance so much so fast–go to any shop today and you’ll know what I’m talking about: for virtually every Indian product there is a cheaper and better Chinese product available.
Opinion in Outlook Money