KomodoPR PR london agency

Helen Holland and Jonathan Simnett are currently in New Delhi.

After the customary crawl through the ever-increasing New Delhi traffic one comes across Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg. A latter-day Indian Fleet Street, it contains the head offices of Indian national newspapers and a fair smattering of leading trade magazines.

There we met M.K. Venu, managing editor of India’s Financial Express. MK is a big man with an engaging smile and a shock of greying hair – a big personality and big ideas. Ebullient and highly articulate, and just back from an extended trip to China, he is typical of the new breed of worldly, confident outgoing Indian that are driving the astounding rate of growth in the subcontinent’s economy.

Escaping the humid heat of a rainy September to talking in his office overlooking a 100 year old cemetery and lubricated by the contents of his personal box of Jay brand Jasmine Green tea we discussed the extraordinary journey on which India is currently travelling.

From the outside, he maintains, it looks like full steam ahead to a prosperous but consumer-led society, but this, he says is, may be at least some part illusory. One of the key issues is self-doubt, a typically Eastern trait, which he also found manifested in China. One effect of this is that despite the exceptional growth that is being exhibited in both countries questions are being raised on many levels about where the Western-style progress is taking the country.

And when one talks about a country it’s a mistake to think that India is homogenous. Real power on the subcontinent resides in the Indian states – whilst central Government handles foreign policy – and some regions are growing fast – such as Gujarat and Tamil Nadu – whilst Punjab lags well behind.

But India’s current growth has to be seen in the light of thousands of years of history that have shaped the culture of a unique complex, impenetrable and sometimes infuriating mega-democracy.

It’s a history maintains Venu that despite some evidence of a trickledown effect of wealth creation is generating disquiet about the increasing gap between rich and poor. Outside of the USA, for instance, India boasts more billionaires than any other country. The good news for people that constantly compare China to India is that the wealth gap in Communist China is even larger.

So one of the opportunities for India Venu sees is the potential to shape a different approach to growth in future, particularly balancing the effect of growth on the environment. With a population of over a billion and still growing, he says, there is an increasing realisation that the damage that could be caused by rapid and short-term expansion to Western standards of living for such large numbers of people could cause unacceptable damage to the environment. There is also the thorny issue of inflated expectation – a potential disconnect between what potential investors into India expect and what government can deliver.

One reminder of India’s reality made its presence felt as we talked. The lights failed regularly plunged into darkness and the very necessary air conditioning went off. The reason for this, Venu pointed out , is that India electricity production currently lags 20 per cent behind demand.

Nevertheless, during the last ten years Indian entrepreneurs have been buoyed up by their success and want to keep hold of their businesses, rather than selling out and complex laws prevent foreign firms from majority stakes, the size of which may be further reduced by legislation in nationally sensitive industries such as electronics, telecommunications and defence. In building brand India, he’s certain that the breakout from India of what have quickly become major international brands – companies exemplified by Tata and Mital – will be joined quickly by a host of others on the international stage.