The Hindu Business Line : Is India really global?

Where does India stand in the global grid? Is it at the pole position or does it bring up the rear? Consulting firms, accounting and auditing firms, investment banks, chambers of commerce, economic forums and governments have devised several measurable and objective parameters to determine if a country, a city or a company has become "truly global'', says G. Ramachandran.

GOING global has been the mantra of the last decade and has added millions of new followers and advocates in the new millennium. Old practitioners and seasoned campaigners such as India's information technology companies and the new aficionados of globalisation are often curious to know where India stands in the global grid. Is India at the pole position or does it bring up the rear?

Consulting firms, accounting and auditing firms, investment banks, chambers of commerce, economic forums and governments have devised several measurable and objective parameters to satisfy the "where-do-we-stand'' curiosity of the practitioners and aficionados. They have devised several measurable and objective parameters to determine if a country, a city or a company has become "truly global''.

Gurus of globalisation use these objective measures and have simultaneously innovated interesting frameworks that make subjective use of other phenomenon and perceptions. They count the number of McDonalds in a county or city. They count the number of signboards in English because English is regarded as the global language. India is regarded as a frontline member of the globalised world since millions of signboards in India are written in decent English.

But there are other signs that have been accepted by the discerning gurus of globalisation as the more decisive evidence of India's frontline status. They have an assessment of the number of Indians that would pass tests of proficiency in English. Professor Peter Drucker and other influential management thinkers assert that India constitutes the global axis of English. They have been overwhelmed by the number of graduate institutions and the number of engineers and scientists that can write technical papers in crisp English and understand technical papers written in the UK and the US.

And, then, there are the software writers and the computer-competent youth of India. They all speak and write decent English. They are part of the global force of knowledge workers and their inputs and output are all coded in English. That makes them truly global. Prof. Drucker says that India's knowledge workers hold the upper hand in the world. English is their edge, their global edge. But Microsoft does not think so.

Failing the test

While working on a computer driven by the Windows operating system of Microsoft and equipped with Microsoft Word, no problem was encountered when mantra and guru were typed. Mantra and guru are Indian words, but have been assimilated into English over the years. Mogul and pundit are other interesting examples of assimilation.

Assimilation into English — the global language of business, information technology and air travel — is among the more dependable measures of how global a society or culture is. Business and information technology have emerged as the new forces that enable assimilation of words, especially nouns, from other societies and cultures into English. The more the number of inclusions, stronger the evidence that globalisation is vigorous.

Mantra, guru, mogul and pundit are indeed nouns, but they entered the lexicon in a different era. How many new Indian nouns, especially proper nouns, have entered the global lexicon in recent times? Since Microsoft is such a globally dominant force and because millions of Indians use the licensed version of Microsoft Word, the right question to ask how many new Indian nouns have entered Microsoft Word's dictionary.

Type Infosys, Wipro and Satyam. Microsoft does not regard these three global companies of Indian origin as globally relevant nouns. When Infosys, Wipro and Satyam are typed, the nouns are underlined in red to show an error.

But Infosys, Wipro and Satyam are allies of Microsoft in the global marketplace and in the technology dens. Microsoft tests its products with their support. They collaborate to serve global customers. Employees use Microsoft Word and other products routinely. Microsoft earns large revenues from these. But the Microsoft lexicon does not include them.

Now type Kawasaki, Sansui, Sony, Samsung, Hyundai, Honda, Suzuki, Toyota, Wang, Acer and Yamaha.

No problems! All these have been included in the Microsoft dictionary. They are not information technology firms. But that is acceptable. Then type Bajaj, Birla, Tata, Sundaram, Ranbaxy and Murugappa. The Microsoft dictionary does not include these Indian proper nouns.

Who is the bungler?

The exclusion of Infosys, Wipro and Satyam is as much a puzzle as is the exclusion of Tata and Ranbaxy. They are global firms, but Microsoft does not see the need to include them to serve the customers of these firms working out of other countries. Merrill Lynch (no problem, it is there) in New Jersey does business with Infosys, Wipro and Satyam but the staff of Merrill Lynch will have to include the names in the custom dictionary. Their place is in the custom dictionary but not in the factory-wrapped dictionary.

Is it because Wipro and Infosys have their global headquarters in Bangalore? Oops, did your Microsoft Word underline Bangalore in red? Yes, mine did.

And as a suitable replacement it suggests Bungler! They say Bangalore is a global city with awesome talent in information technology, chip design, network management and biotechnology.

So, what! It is not there in the Microsoft lexicon. In a recent editorial on the antitrust action on Oracle by the US Department of Justice (DoJ), The Economist asked if the DoJ had not heard of Bangalore.

But Microsoft has not heard of Bangalore. Microsoft has also not heard of Hyderabad, Satyam's global headquarters. Microsoft has a global development centre in Hyderabad, and Mr Bill Gates visited Hyderabad a long time ago. The exclusion of globally renowned proper nouns of Indian origin raises important questions pertinent to what counts in the framework of inclusion and exclusion.

If Bangalore and Hyderabad do not make the global grade, which city in India is really global? American depositary shares of Infosys are listed on the Nasdaq, but Infosys finds no listing in Microsoft Word. American depositary shares of Wipro and Satyam are traded on the New York Stock Exchange. They are not included in Microsoft Word.

(The author is a financial analyst. Feedback may be sent to indiagrow@sify.com)

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