SPOTLIGHT INDIA: Globalization

Globalization has played a significant role in India's rise as an economic force. It is also the foundation behind the country's success in the outsourcing industry.

But India's success did not happen overnight. As discussed in a recent USA today article, India only began to embrace globalization during the early 1990s which only bore fruit a decade later.

Having been a British colony until the 1950s, India set out to become a self-reliant nation, exercising control over the entry of foreign investors and minimizing imports.

Reforms did not began until the early 1990s when government relaxed limits on foreign investments and sought to provide a conducive environment for foreign companies wanting to set up business in India.

Today, India is even championing liberalization, actively forging free-trade agreements with other countries.

One the biggest beneficiaries of this "openness" is the outsourcing industry. Today, no company with outsourcing plans does not have India on its laundry list.

India was able to achieved self-sufficiency not by closing its doors to the world. Rather, it spread the word across the world of how easy it is to do business in India.

This message has been strategically spread with aid from the Indian government, through organizations like the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM). NASSCOM has the specific responsibility of promoting the Indian software industry.

Many companies in the West have heard this message, and now have become true believers. The proof is clear, as investments continue to pour into India.