I live in US. I am a mechanical engineer, and worked in automation industry (Japnese company). Currently pursuing MBA in finance.
Aditya, you said it well. Post-independent India has been bogged down by an incredible entrepreneurial inertia because of govt. policies. Before coming here, I worked in Bombay and Bangalore for a year and I personally experienced the lethargy and indifference of people in positions of power. There was incompetence everywhere. I certainly feel that it wasn't because of lack of intelligence or ability; it was utter lack of desire to see meaningful progress either at personal level or at institutional level. People lacked the will to succeed because there was no "profit motive" as famously termed by Adam Smith. I had heard a story about a top Director in one of the top companies bringing pillow and mattress to have a long afternoon nap; there was no accountability. Fortunately, tide is turning and we have model entrepreneurs in Narayan Murthy, Azim Premji, the Ambanis and so on. I was just watching Maria Bartiromo of CNBC interviewing young Aditya Mittal and that should be inspiring to millions of aspiring talents in India. I don't mind an evolutionary approach to growth in our young capitalist society as opposed to fast-paced growth without proper foundation and institutional development. But, we simply don't have the political will (the Nehruvian socialists and the obsolete communist ideologies still command lot of power and they clearly are becoming the impediments) to make the necessary, serious changes to achieve consistent growth. I still see young politicians like Rahul Gandhi trying to play the divisive politics; it is as though we take a step forward with all the progress in IT/ life sciences/manufacturing and then sadly take a step back with anti-growth policies to please some sections of the society. My only hope is that the growth machine that's generating this much-touted 8% GDP every year has the momentum to sustain its forward move notwithstanding lack of political will to put India in the path of economic well-being. India deserves to be an economic super power, as it is vital for the global growth and well-being.
