Tata's Nano shows way past West's blind spot

Global newspaper headlines on the Tata Nano have it all figured out. "It costs just $2 500 [R17 636]. It's cute as a bug. And it could mean global disaster," The Washington Post recently opined.

This underscores how India leverages its white-collar strengths in the knowledge economy to exert a powerful force on global blue-collar manufacturing.

In doing so, it engages in a direction diametrically opposite from China.

After India succeeded in its quest to "Wal-Mart" the global knowledge economy - through a combination of value and volume, skills and scale — the Indian economy's effect on global manufacturing could prove to be massive.

And yet, like the Nano itself, none of this should be seen as a bolt from the blue.

The strengths of the Tata Group as global technology titans have been in evidence for some time.

What this illustrates are two principles of the 21st century New Economy. Few will be able to compete in the same space as India - least of all those from the high-cost zones of the Western world.

In the information technology (IT) world, such trends have now taken on almost the character of a parody: every rumour of an Indian bid sends the share price of CapGemini, Europe's largest IT services company, soaring.

And it was Tata Steel that demonstrated exactly this New India principle when it swallowed Corus, a European steel maker several times its size.

Tata is not alone. Other Indian conglomerates are following suit.

And yet, all that Western media manage to see is that "the planet is doomed" once millions of Indians and Chinese get their own cars.

Still, India is encouraged to emulate our "good new" habits rather than our "bad old" ones. Talk about skating on very thin moral ice.

Such ingrained Marie Antoinettesque assumptions - having one's cake and eating it too - are, of course, emblematic of the entire debate in the Western media about shifting global economic powers.
It ignores the fact that India has its very own "good new habits".

It already boasts one of the planet's largest public transport systems.

Also overlooked are India's huge efforts to encourage alternatives to fossil fuels.

Despite all its detractors, India is looking quite good, especially when compared with growth-at-any-cost China - or, frankly, the West's thoughtless legacy and continuity of overconsumption.

As far as the Nano is concerned, its effect on the world car market is going to be dwarfed by the convulsions the little car will herald in the world engineering industry.

And such tremors won't end with the car industry. There are other cases worth noting, such as the Indian space programme.

India also boasts the largest national constellation of communication, remote-sensing and special-purpose satellites, including those for distance education, and the soon-to-be-launched world's first e-Health satellite.

Once again, this monumental technological shift is occurring in the West's blind spot - not because India is hiding it, but because the Western powers that be have chosen not to look closely.

They evidently prefer an India wrapped in Gandhi's loin cloth. But the times, they are a-changing - and rapidly so.
Source:-Business Report