[India] Globalisation to lift country from poverty: FM

from SIFY

New Delhi: Questioning "pro-poverty heroes", Finance Minister P Chidambaram exhorted Indian businessmen on Tuesday to grab the opportunities offered by globalisation to lift the country from poverty to middle income nation.

"There are some who want to distribute poverty," Chidambaram said at a seminar organised by Aligarh Muslim University, adding that the growth is the only way by which poverty can be eradicated from the country. |Budget & your investments: View Infograph|

Pointing out that growth will come if the industry is run competitively; he said "If every toy is Chinese toy, what prevents us to make those toys. If every third pair of footwear is Chinese footwear what prevents Indians to make that product."

He said the country has human resources; businesses can access capital, technology and tap the opportunities offered by the huge domestic market. | Go to Sify Business Home page |

Besides, the country is building up infrastructure, he said.

Pointing out that there is hardly any product which is "indigenously" produced in the present day economic conditions, Chidambaram said it is wrong to assume that work will always be outsourced to developing countries from the developed world.

"Outsourcing will not be a one way traffic as the world becomes flatter and flatter," he said.

In the new set of rules, one product is designed somewhere and produced somewhere else through inputs of some other countries, he said.

Citing an example, the Finance Minister said Bank of India has chosen Hewlett Packard for interlinking its branches online. It is a reverse outsourcing of sorts, he said.

"Who is outsourcing to whom, everybody is outsourcing to other," Chidambaram said.