Don't get me wrong; I love the optimism and determination and endurance by the young people in India I saw. But they're running out of time.
Investment in emerging markets is drying up (and will be for the foreseeable future), as developed countries are starting to hike interest rates to fight inflation. Oil and food prices are skyrocketing. So one side is jobs growth slows. On the other side is cost of living goes up. Same conditions around the world, but when you are living in India, that really hurts. And when jobs start to go to other countries with better skilled labors (better English fluency, better city infrastructure) such as philippines and malaysia and vietnam, watch out.
Honestly, considering the following facts:
1) The amount of cash still sloshing around in world markets,
2) That interest rates on loans in India are around 14-17%,
3) The fact that the Reserve Bank of India has not started to print money like the Fed, and
4) India has been hiking far earlier than developed nations - I'd say investment capital is not going to be an issue.
(Let me further add, that working in a financial firm which works with PE funds, I can assure you that interest in the emerging markets will NOT end.)
We, and almost all 3rd world nations, are also FAR more sensitive to inflation than the west, and have been working to curtail it for a while.
With regards to losing jobs to the Philippines and Malaysia - their competition is actually something that will do wonders for our competitiveness.
Perhaps what people don't see is the huge amount of work going into HR development in this country. For all those outsourcing jobs, India has had to take the HR manual, and rebuild it at a scale most people would not have expected.
For example the recent WSJ article on talent crunches in India - well that article was several years late. Vivek Wadhwa already wrote a comprehensive piece on how talent in India doesn't measure up in 2008. http://hir.harvard.edu/how-the-disciple-became-the-guru?page...
Its worth a read (also informative for any Indian entrepreneurs who are trying to figure out recruitment- which is a huge pain in the country.)
Investment in emerging markets is drying up (and will be for the foreseeable future), as developed countries are starting to hike interest rates to fight inflation. Oil and food prices are skyrocketing. So one side is jobs growth slows. On the other side is cost of living goes up. Same conditions around the world, but when you are living in India, that really hurts. And when jobs start to go to other countries with better skilled labors (better English fluency, better city infrastructure) such as philippines and malaysia and vietnam, watch out.