'India's large population has now become an asset'

The Indian growth story is intact as the aspiration levels of the Indians are still high, according to Rajiv Ramaswamy, Director, Sreevatsa Real Estates (P) Ltd, Coimbatore.

Ramaswamy said he was "extremely optimistic about India" and the large Indian population, once berated, has now become an asset.

Speaking at the inaugural function of the Business Line Club at the Happy Valley B-School, Veerapanur near here, sponsored by the Thoothukudi-based Tamilnad Mercantile Bank Ltd (TMB), he said there was "very good internal demand" as Indians aspire to buy cars, houses and want to lead a better life.

Since his school days, he was told that the "worst thing for India" was its population. But today "it is exactly the opposite" and India's advantage now is its young population.

He suggested that the Government should dovetail projects such as National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme with the local industrial activity so that manpower shortage does not pinch industries in the region.

He said the scheme "doesn't work well for the economy in Coimbatore".

He said the job scheme might be needed in interior regions where there was not much industrial activity. The Coimbatore District Small Industries Association (Codissia) had suggested in a memo to the PM that the scheme could be linked to the industry. While the companies would pay Rs 200 /day as salary, the government could pay Rs 65 so that the workers earned Rs 265 as wages. But a response is still awaited.

Rajiv Ramaswamy said that while jobs "seem to be under threat", this was not so in reality. A huge skill gap existed in the country and the country needed people in administration and management. Agriculture/food security was something "neglected" in India and none seemed willing to touch it. But if the students saw an opportunity, they should grab it as anyone who is into agriculture "will do well" as the country needs food.

He said economics must be a "science for well being of society, not for high sounding terminologies". During the economic meltdown in the 2008-10 it was the management graduates who came under fire because people did not understand the market jargons that were used to describe their decisions that brought trouble to companies. If people don’t decipher these terminologies into something that we can work with, where we see value, it doesn’t make sense.

Rajiv said "inequalities cannot be removed by free money" and it is "simply not possible" to uplift someone by giving money. The person should have an "innate interest to do better than what he did yesterday". While some sections of society still needed to be helped out, a major part of what runs the economy did not need this support any more and it should be slowly phased out.

S.S.Subramanian, Branch Head, TMB, Big Bazaar St. branch, Coimbatore and C.Kanagaraj, Director of Happy Valley B-School, spoke.

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