THE INDIAN ECONOMIC MIRACLE

On the 15 August 1947, as India gained freedom from British Colonial Rule, the country surmounted over 200 years of struggles; setting out the dawn of a new era of deliverance from the clutches of British Colonialism. On that fateful day, one could not predict, with complete and utter candour, India’s remarkably robust and resilient growth story In this essay, I will explore how the technology services revolution has ushered in a social revolution, uplifting the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of citizens, fast tracking the economy to overtake the UK and by 2050 become the second largest economy in the world.

For one, in the last 10 to 15 years, the country has emerged as a technological hub for the software companies of the world Bengaluru, honing the nickname of ‘Silicon Valley 2.0’ hosts some of the world’s biggest firms' largest world bases, including Infosys, Wipro, Mindtree, and Capgemini, just to name a few. In addition, Hyderabad is home to the Microsoft development centre, also being the largest bioinformatics hub of India- This term refers to the process of both the collection and analysis of complex biological data such as genetic codes.

In 2019, NASSCOM, the premier body of India’s tech industry, reported the sector aggregating revenues of over 180 billion US Dollars, with export revenue standing at 99 billion dollars and domestic revenue at approximately 48 billion USD. This is the result of the country becoming the largest global sourcing destination for the IT industry-Online retailing, Cloud Computing, and E - Commerce all contributing to its rapid growth rate. However, one of the largest positive outcomes of the flourishing technology industry of India is its ripple effect on the lives of the local populace.

According to Achin Steiner, the administrator of the United Nations Development program, India has lifted over 271 million people out of poverty, during a 10 year range between 2006 to 2016 Using a figure from worldvision.org, we can estimate that this was some 26.7% of the entire global population of those under the poverty threshold at the time; putting into perspective the sheer scale of the operation Subsequently, a growing middle-class has fuelled impressive consumer growth, helping underprivileged Indians, who were deprived of an education to make their mark in life through entrepreneurial endeavours, targeting the new wave of wealthy migrants to the country.

For instance, as tech parks are built throughout rural areas of Bengaluru, those living in poor villages, lacking adequate sanitation, can sell their plots and homes for a substantial figure, to help either private companies or the government acquire space to construct their offices. These citizens who have been beaten and bruised by both the state and their living conditions are able to move to various parts of the country and live a more comfortable life, now as part of the lower-middle class. As a result, IT employs over 14 million people, 10 million being direct employees and 4 million being indirect. Using India’s average employment rate figure between the years of 2002 and 2020, this equates to approximately 3.2%- a seemingly nominal figure. However, considering that a mere 34% of employed Indians live in urban areas and many of those are uneducated and live under poverty, we can deduce that 16% (just above a 1:6 ratio) of all Indians in cities and suburbs work in IT and software. In comparison, the same percentage in the UK is 0.2% and 2.9% in the USA.

In conclusion, the 21st century is earmarked as driven by technology, and India is the centre of attraction, considered a global knowledge powerhouse. The IT industry in particular is considered a backbone, in order for the Indian economy to prosper exponentially, generating millions of jobs every single year, as result of over 50% of the population being under the age of 26. Growth in the sector will help push the Indian economy at a projected rate of 6-7%, bringing them to the world's third largest economy by 2030, and second by 2050 Now with the emergence of new and exciting technology such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, as well as predictions of the tech related jobs doubling in the next decade in the country, the future of IT in India is bright

Ishan Visvanath