The Yanks Are Coming!

[Macaca]

The Yanks Are Coming! (Actually, They're Already Here) By PAUL BECKETT | Wall Street Journal, Oct 31 2009


On Friday, two unlikely old pals were scheduled to have lunch: Former President George W. Bush, who is in town for a conference appearance, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, his fellow architect of the nuclear agreement.

But even as they (presumably) reminisced about what is probably the signature foreign-policy achievement of both of their governments, what is much less noticed – but much more newsworthy – is what has happened since they struck the deal.

Before President Barack Obama took office in January and in the weeks that followed, especially with his "Buffalo to Bangalore" clunker, it seemed as if U.S.-India relations would cool from the fervor of the Bush years especially given the chill wind of recession and its accompanying protectionism. The fact that for the first time since 2003, it now appears the H-1B U.S. visa quota won't be filled seemed to epitomize a new standoffishness.

In fact, the opposite is happening. With the nuclear deal done and Mr. Singh heading for the White House next month, there has been an unprecedented number of U.S. executives and diplomats landing in New Delhi to try to turn what was a singular commercial and strategic deal into a new, much broader, more lucrative business relationship. It's fair to say that, by a significant margin, there has never been so much interest by U.S. companies in India nor has India witnessed the kind of coordinated assault on its major markets that is now underway.

In the months leading up to Mr. Singh's Washington visit, more than 30 U.S. government visitors of deputy assistant secretary rank or higher have been or will be in India to advance the administration's agenda.

Earlier this week, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, on a Delhi visit, noted that the U.S. is currently India's second-largest export destination but is America's 18th largest trading partner and a lot can be done to close that gap.

No coincidence then, that a day later a delegation of U.S. agricultural and food combines – Cargill, Mars, Paramount Farms, Monsanto -- held a little summit to showcase what they are doing in rural India and to push for a "stable and transparent regulatory environment" that is "an absolute precursor to any company wanting to make investments," as Paul Conway, a senior vice president at Cargill, put it.

That same evening, the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States was serving tipples of bourbon and "tamarind sours" in the first salvo of a campaign to wean Indians off scotch and onto American whiskey. OK, everyone knows that won't happen. But just getting Indians to drink both would mean some jobs in Kentucky. Boeing and its partners also this week were highlighting their bid for contracts that India plans to award for 126 fighter jets worth $10 billion. Oh yes, there was a U.S. "green company" delegation here, too.

Even against the backdrop of increasing ties between the two countries in recent years, this is full on – and it is ratcheting up for good reason. When all the world was booming, U.S. companies had their pick of new markets. India, in that mix, offered lots of people but lots of hassles, dreadful infrastructure and rampant corruption. What's changed? Not much in India, but the rest of the world sank and India kept its head above water, as did China and Brazil. Relatively speaking, India is in a much stronger position globally now than it was three years ago. In the process, it has switched to a "must-be-in" market from a "nice-to-be-in" market for U.S. companies scouring the globe for growth.

"There's a real effort on both sides to do a lot more with each other and to take the agenda beyond where President Bush left it and not slide back," says Tarun Das, chief mentor for the Confederation of Indian Industry. "Your economy needs a lot of business and we can give you a lot of business."

There also has been a change in the Indian government's stance. Unencumbered by its America-hating former allies, the new government appears to be coming to realize two key things. Given how volatile and tetchy relations are with China, it is not good to have China as India's biggest trading partner; many in government now would happily see that title switch to the U.S. And India needs outside help in products and expertise if it is to have any chance of becoming the country its biggest boosters mistakenly believe it already is.

So the traffic has not been one way. Kamal Nath is pitching investments in Indian roads to Wall Street. Kapil Sibal and a delegation of Indian university representatives are drumming up U.S. interest in investing in Indian higher education. Before Mr. Singh's arrival in Washington, a new forum of India and U.S. CEOs is expected to be formed and to meet with the two national leaders during the visit.

There will undoubtedly be some in the government who oppose this new closeness and undoubtedly many of the new initiatives being mooted will fail. India remains, for both Indian and foreign companies, an esoteric and frequently hostile environment in which to do business.

That is where the Indian government comes in. It needs to do more than send its officials jetting off to the States to stoke the excitement. It needs to push its officials to squash the business interests that oppose open markets (and to refuse their money) so that when U.S. companies start investing for real, their heightened expectations are met. It is not that those companies necessarily deserve it. It's that India's population – increasingly affluent, increasingly worldly, increasingly consumerist, increasingly confident – demands it. Any politician who stands in the way will quickly pay the price.

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[gc_wow]

Whats up long time no see.

[Macaca]

Exchanging One Cliché for Another By AKASH KAPUR | New York Times, Nov 6 2009

PONDICHERRY, INDIA — My first memory of being Indian in America was being called an “injun.” This was around 1980. I was visiting my grandparents in rural Minnesota. The boy who called me an “injun” punched me in the stomach; later, his friends would call me a “communist.”

Those were particularly crude reactions but they were characteristic of the distance that separated India and America for much of my life. I grew up between both countries, the son of an Indian father and an American mother, but my two homes always felt very far apart. For much of my childhood and early adulthood, India and America were literally — but also culturally, socially, politically and experientially — on opposite sides of the planet.

When I moved to America in the early 1990s, India was little more than a cipher in the American imagination. Many of my new friends were uninterested in and uninformed about the country that I desperately missed. India was defined by the broadest, and usually most unflattering, of brush strokes — stereotypes about poverty and corruption, images of crowds, maybe a vague sense of what Indians in America used to call the “three C’s”: caste, cows and curry.

I’ve been thinking about those early years in America, because I just spent a few weeks back in the country, in New York. Every time I return these days, I’m struck by the extent to which the gulf of incomprehension has narrowed. The indifference I used to encounter has given way to a new curiosity, and an awareness of shared economic and political destinies. Cold War antagonisms have been replaced by common geopolitical interests — a sense, as President Bill Clinton put it on his visit to India in 2000, that the two countries are “natural allies.”

Most of all, I’m struck by the new optimism and enthusiasm that seem to have attached themselves to India, and especially to its economic prospects. More than a century ago, Mark Twain called India “an incredible aggregate of poverty.” Today the media extol it as a “roaring capitalist success story” and “the next economic superpower.

Across America, I meet taxi drivers, shopkeepers and businessmen who speak admiringly about the opportunities and promise of a new India. The “three C’s” have been replaced by an altogether more modern — and certainly more prosperous — set of associations: technology, outsourcing, billionaires, Bollywood.

In Harlem recently, I met a newspaper vendor who operated a kiosk down the road from where I was staying. He asked where I was from. “India?” he said. “You must be really smart, or rich — or both.”

I thought about his reaction for a while, and then I returned to ask him what he really knew about India. “Not much,” he confessed. “I don’t really follow the international news.”

He told me about the young Indian sisters — quadruplets — who lived next door to his house. He said they were beautiful; they had an “American swagger.” He noticed they did not wear the “red dot” on their foreheads. He figured it was a sign that India was changing.

He told me, too, about working as a shuttle-bus driver at the U.S. Open over the summer. Many of his passengers were Indians. He was astonished by how many had expensive box seats.

He talked about the Indians he often found at the other end of the line when he telephoned customer service. He knew that “Wall Street” was scared of those Indians; they were taking American jobs.

These types of experiences — fleeting, individualized — had added up to a general image of India in his mind. It was an image of a thriving, modernizing nation that was strikingly at odds with the one I had encountered when I first moved to America.

Indians, the newspaper vendor told me, citing the example of another vendor, a man named Muhammad who worked 14-hour days, had a knack for success. They worked hard, they knew how to chase down opportunities. “I’m one who’s probably guilty of not pursuing all my opportunities,” he said, shaking his head ruefully. “But Indians aren’t likely to make that same mistake.”

It’s hard to deny the feeling of gratification that such pronouncements give me. India is a country on the move now, a nation that is increasingly — and correctly — being recognized for its economic prowess and achievements.

When I visit cities like Bangalore or Mumbai, I see swarms of young American interns and workers, all in the country to chase professional opportunities, escaping the economic stagnation at home. Their sight inspires a certain thrill, and perhaps a little schadenfreude: Who would have ever imagined that India would be creating opportunities for economic refugees from the land of opportunity?

Yet when I talk to men like that newspaper vendor, I can’t help but wonder a little, too, about India’s new global image.

For all its achievements, it’s hard to accept India as an example of a roaring capitalist success story. I know there’s a lot more to the country than smart and rich technology workers who are stealing American jobs and buying box seats at the U.S. Open.

Sometimes I feel that one set of stereotypes has just replaced another — that the old, negative simplifications have been replaced by new, positive ones.

Back in India now after my time in New York, I’m grateful for all that this country has achieved over the last couple of decades — all the external signs of success (the gleaming technology parks, the new roads, the shopping malls) and all the other, less tangible transformations that I know are expanding horizons and opportunities for hundreds of millions of people.

But I am reminded, too, of all that remains to be done: the poverty that exists despite the new economic success, the islands of deprivation that have in many respects only grown more resilient since the start of India’s boom.

Mostly, I’m reminded of just what an intricate, layered country this is, and of how complex is the process of change and development it is undergoing. I’m happy that stereotypes of India have turned positive. But I’d be a lot happier if the stereotypes could give way to an acknowledgement of that complexity.

[Macaca]

Should Indians Celebrate Foreign Festivals Like Halloween? WSJIDEBATE, Nov 5 2009

WSJIDEBATE is a forum for discussion on the top current affairs, economic and social issues of the day. It is led by a panel of students at Indian universities and colleges selected by The Wall Street Journal to write their views and to stimulate comment and debate among their peers. Each week, the panel will publish pieces that give perspective on a major story that has run on india.wsj.com To participate, just register and then add your comments through the Comment tab at the top of the article. We hope this will serve as a useful platform for young, engaged Indian readers to add their voices to the debate on the most important issues of our time.



Soumya Dasgupta: Don't Overlook Indigenous Festivals

Soumya Srijan Dasgupta is currently studying History at St. Stephen's College, Delhi University. He has always had an interest in current affairs and politics, but holds a lifelong obsession with music, especially when it comes to the sweet melodies of The Beatles. He is a big fan of Ogden Nash, and hopes to publish a collection of nonsense verse poems for children in the next few years.

A common sight these days on popular social networking sites are messages asking one to come celebrate Halloween, Christmas or Easter at a well-known nightclub.

Some choose to ignore these messages, for they feel they have better things to do than to celebrate odd western festivals at a venue of western origin.

However, it would be preposterous to believe that this is an all-round feeling among Indians. Clubs are packed with youngsters as well as middle-aged Indians all dressed up according to the theme of the holiday and living it up with music, alcohol and dances of undeterminable origin.

Once you move on to the indigenous festivals, not much of a change is seen. People now prefer to celebrate our own festivals the same way the west celebrates theirs. In effect, what has begun is a slow but steady erosion of the traditional celebration methods of the Indian subcontinent. The celebration of western festivals such as Halloween has caused our notion of celebration to change, and has therefore begun to adversely affect our indigenous festivals.

Case in point is Diwali 2009. One could see the numerous nightclub invites once again on the internet, and mostly we thought nothing of it. It is easy to believe that this would not change certain things about the way Indians celebrate Diwali. However, this year it was not the same.

Gone were the million trays full of dried fruit and diyas, replaced instead by hampers of olives, cheese, scented candles and single malt. A tradition which has been in place for innumerable years was changed practically overnight to suit a more western model of gifting.

Some would say this was an attempt to be more practical. But should a tradition which has been in place for so many years and only comes around once a year be changed in the name of pragmatism?

Keeping this in mind, there has been a complete change in the Indian mindset over the question of celebration. Halloween in particular has become exceedingly popular today, giving youngsters a chance to shop for costumes, get together and attend parties which promote western-style frivolity. Houses on certain streets which refused to put up diyas during Diwali due to the cost and effort to do the same adorned themselves with blow-up Jack-o-lanterns and little monsters of foreign origin (overlooking the traditional Indian bhooths and rakshasas.)

India has had a history of being able to accept, absorb and assimilate any community and their practices, for it is the hallmark of an Indian to be accommodating. However, one must not let this accommodative spirit cause us to overlook or lose interest in our indigenous celebrations. Though Indians will take any excuse to celebrate, it has begun to reach a point where Indians selectively choose to observe western festivals with greater gusto than those of the region. In our attempt to be secular and appease all communities, a slow erosion of roots and spirit has started which can only have an adverse effect on Indian cultural heritage. So it's not about forgetting western festivals all together, but rather about remembering the importance of our own.


Ilena Bose: How can it be wrong to celebrate a festival?

Ilena is an aspiring poet who hopes to do her masters in Poetry at Oxford University after doing her undergraduate studies in English from Delhi University. She is passionate about all genres of music, ranging from blues to modern rock, and is an incurable idealist. She loves to sing, and is a great supporter of Bob Marley's philosophy of moving and inspiring people through one's lyrics and actions.

Halloween is a largely secular celebration even though it gets its name (All Hallows Eve) from being the day before All Saints Days. It is the one day in the year where people can give up all inhibitions and focus on having a good time. Not tied to any religious sentiment, Halloween and its customary costumes celebrate the spirit of imagination. It allows people of all ages to dress up and indulge in otherwise "childish" activities without any criticism.

Why shouldn't Indians celebrate a harmless festival that only results in candy and costumes? I feel that the whole idea that celebrating foreign festivals will lead to a loss in enthusiasm about indigenous festivals is somewhat ridiculous. Indian festivals such as Diwali are celebrated all across the world, including in the U.S. and Australia. This doesn't mean they lose interest in their own festivals like Thanksgiving or Christmas. Enveloping other cultures and other festivals does not lead to the loss of your own culture; it just leads to your growth as an overall universal human being.

For example, when I was 14, I celebrated Halloween in Delhi. I went from house to house, trick-or-treating, and was rewarded with a basket full of candy! It was a wonderful night. I could dress up in strange clothes, go to people's homes and ask for candy, which I was given, no questions asked.

Did this experience make me lose interest in my own culture and my own festivals? Of course not. The same year, I celebrated Christmas, which is also not a festival belonging to my culture. This experience didn't result in a loss of my culture either. I continued to celebrate my favorite festival of Holi, the beautiful festival of Rakhi, and the brilliant festival of Diwali.

I don't feel like I have lost my cultural roots, or suffered any loss of enthusiasm for my own indigenous festivals. On the contrary, I have gained by imbibing other cultures and festivities and I feel more whole as a universal person.

Celebrating a festival such as Halloween means nothing more than celebrating a festival that is new and exciting. There is no deeper cultural meaning here. It is ridiculous to state that if one does something new, one forgets or loses interest in the old. Festivals are a time of happiness and joy. They radiate cheerfulness and good vibrations. So how can it ever be wrong to celebrate a festival, foreign or indigenous?

[Macaca]

My Seven Wonders of India By AMOL SHARMA | Wall Street Journal, Nov 4 2009

I moved from New York to New Delhi about two months ago. I love it here and, as a frequent visitor, was pretty familiar with the basic issues a foreigner confronts, from the scorching summer heat to the strenuous haggling exercise after every cab ride.

But moving to a place is much different than visiting. As I've set up a home here in the past several weeks, darting from meetings with realtors to banks to customs officials to Internet providers to state-run utilities, I've noticed some other quirks. Here are a few:

1. Indians Love Collecting Documents. For starters, everyone here seems to want two or three copies of my passport photos. Sure, it makes sense that the landlord, bank and foreign registration office would want my mug in their files. But the broadband installation guy? The man who will hook up my cooking gas?
   
   They all take meticulous records. When in doubt about what they need from you, customer service personnel will collect any kind of documentation they can. When I was signing up for an account with a bank, for example, they sent a young guy to collect some official documents from me.
   
   "Sir, what official documents do you have?" he said.
   
   "Well, what do you need?" I asked.
   
   "Sir, kindly show any official documents so I can take some particulars."
   
   "Well, what exactly do you need?"
   
   He looked through a folder of my documents and stumbled on a copy of my visa. "Yes, this I will take," he said. He grabbed a passport copy, a letter from my company affirming that I work in India, and then he saw my driver's license on the table.
   
   "Sir, maybe I need a copy of this also for your address confirmation," he said.
   
   "Okay, but it's my old New York City address."
   
   "That's ok."
2. I Should Have Practiced My Signature More. Carrying on from the documentation thing, there are an awful lot of places to sign your name, obviously. And here people actually check to see if your signature matches whatever official reference is in front of them – the signature on your passport, the back of your credit card, etc. I'll illustrate with another bank anecdote: I was in my local branch recently and another fellow ahead of me in line had signed his name on an official form of some sort. The teller took a look, shook her head, and told him to try again. He submitted his second try – still no luck. Then she had him step aside and practice his signature, which he did about 40 times on an 8 x 11 piece of paper. I think he got what he wanted, in the end. I have messed up my own signature several times – once a guy had to fly to Bangalore to meet me so I could re-sign the relevant piece of paper – but now I pay attention to the precise height of the high-lofting cursive A, and the diagonal scribble of the S.
3. Rain is the Ultimate Excuse. Given how much it rains here – there are heavy monsoons throughout the summer – I am shocked at how much havoc a little bit of precipitation can wreak. Three minutes of light drizzle means an insta-traffic jam throughout Delhi; I still haven't quite figured out why, though I think it has something to do with pedestrians and scooter-riders pulling over for shelter under bridges. A steady downpour here sets off the kind of red alert we used to reserve in my hometown of Webster, Mass., for snowstorms of 8 or 12 inches. People come into work late, or not at all, and don't hesitate to cancel meetings with little or no notice. The Airtel broadband salesman took it to a new level. We spoke by phone one day to schedule my installation. He said he'd call back in exactly 30 minutes with the details. Six hours later, he hadn't called, so I called him and asked: "Why didn't you call back?"
   
   His response: "Sir, actually, because of the rain, I forgot to call."
4. Lacto-What? It is challenging to be lactose intolerant in a country where milk tea is the beverage of choice. Everyone from my relatives to my drum teacher wants to serve me chai. When I explain that milk is off limits for me, people are confused, amused or simply want to shower me with sympathy. For the uninitiated, lactose intolerance is the inability to digest dairy products due to decreased production of an enzyme called lactase. Studies show that Indians are among the groups especially prone to lactose intolerance – which makes it all the more surprising that few people here seem to have heard of it. In my case, milk is like kryptonite but cheese and yogurt are fine. I get along fine by carrying non-dairy creamer for coffee and tea, and taking "Lactaid" pills with dairy-heavy meals. I'm resigned to the perplexed stares from onlookers.
5. GPS is an Ally. The best way to keep from getting fleeced by Delhi's cab drivers and auto-rickshawalas (who drive three-wheel scooter taxis) is to have a GPS-enabled phone (or a separate personal navigation device like Garmin). I routinely whip out Google maps, which I have on my BlackBerry, and use the GPS features to zero in on my location so I can see where we're going. It works surprisingly well (I'm sure services from other companies work well too.) Once I start shouting out directions to the driver – take the first exit at the roundabout, turn left after the flyover – he knows I'm not messing around. Drivers are caught off guard, of course, when I tell them we are the blue blinking dot on my phone screen. They hardly ever use paper maps, much less digital ones embedded in a phone.
6. Spam Overload. Since I activated my Bharti Airtel cellphone a few weeks ago, I have received about 50 unsolicited marketing pitches via SMS. Car insurance. Offers to teach me to play cricket. Real estate listings. This was all new to me, since in the U.S. getting such spam on cellphones – whether through telemarketing calls or text messages – is quite rare. By default, U.S. telecom operators do their best to block it, because they know if they don't, outraged customers will flock elsewhere. Here in India it's open season by default, but you can sign up for a do-not-call registry, which I just did a few days ago. The telemarketer who doesn't honor your wishes faces a $10 charge for a first offense, and a roughly $20 penalty thereafter. Compare that with the penalties for violating the U.S. do not call list ($1,600 per infraction.) In about 45 days, I'll see if India's "opt-out" system works.
7. All Commerce is Local. One aspect of business here is that distribution of most goods and services -- from water purifying systems to satellite TV connections – is highly localized. National or even regional sales agents for companies are often useless, as I discovered when I wanted to subscribe to newspapers. I first logged onto a major Indian business paper's Web site, and tried to sign up that way, but got an error message. So I tried again the next day. Same error. Then from a different computer. Error. So I called the newspaper's regional sales agent for Delhi, whose number was listed on the site. No answer. Finally, I asked around my neighborhood and learned that all I needed to do was tell the "akhbar-wala" – the local newspaper delivery guy – what I wanted. But where was this chap? What time would he come? I asked someone to tell him on my behalf that I wanted four newspapers. The next day, a gentleman appeared at my door to ask what papers I wanted. I figured it was confirmation of my order, as given by my neighborhood pal. But unbeknownst to me, this was a different akhbar-wala. (How was I supposed to know there could be more than one in a neighborhood!?) Now, every morning two rubber-banded rolls of four newspapers are launched onto my balcony. I asked some people on the street to tell one of the two delivery guys to stop, but neither wants to give up his business. I run outside at dawn sometimes when I hear the thud of the newspaper rolls, but I always seem to miss them. There's no number I can all – at least that I know of. I guess I'll break the bad news to one of these akhbar-walas when they come asking for monthly payments.

[Macaca]

Scandal Plays Out Among New Power Elite
Billionaire Rajaratnam, Prosecutor Bharara Come From Same Highly Successful Immigrant Group
BY S. MITRA KALITA | Wall Street Journal, Oct 20 2009

It seems like a courtroom drama made for Bollywood: The Sri Lankan hedge-fund kingpin pursued by a fellow immigrant, the Indian-born U.S. attorney for Manhattan.

But the case against Raj Rajaratnam is very much an American story. Mr. Rajaratnam, the billionaire founder of Galleon Group, and Preet Bharara -- the Indian-born, Ivy League-educated prosecutor -- belong to a relatively small immigrant group who have formed a power elite in the U.S., with positions in corporate boardrooms and a governor's mansion.

An estimated 2.5 million Indians live in the U.S., less than 1% of the total population. But in recent years, South Asians have found disproportionate success in technology and financial services, businesses at the core of the insider-trading allegations unveiled last week.

Authorities say Mr. Rajaratnam conspired with Intel Capital employee Rajiv Goel and Anil Kumar, a director of McKinsey & Co. global management-consulting firm, between 2006 and 2008. All three received M.B.A. degrees from the Wharton School. All have denied wrongdoing.

Unlike earlier generations of immigrants, the 1965 law opening U.S. borders abolished quotas and favored the brightest and best-educated. That allowed South Asians particularly to penetrate and dominate highly skilled professions, said Ravi Batra, a prominent Indian-American lawyer in New York City.

Mr. Rajaratnam was born and raised in Sri Lanka, an island nation off India's coast and the site of a long-running civil war. He studied engineering at the University of Sussex in England and graduated from Wharton in 1983.

The prosecutor in the case, Mr. Bharara, earned degrees from Harvard University and Columbia Law School. He was born in Ferozepur, India, and arrived in the U.S. as an infant.

The boom in high-technology and financial services lured consultants and investment bankers. Others turned entrepreneurial; one Duke University study found that more than a quarter of all tech start-ups in the U.S. between 1995 and 2005 were initiated by immigrants.

Among the more high-profile in the U.S. are PepsiCo Inc. Chief Executive Indra Nooyi and Silicon Valley financier Vinod Khosla.

Organizations such as the Indus Entrepreneurs, better known as TiE, often drew venture capitalists and people in private equity and hedge funds. Indian immigrants became known for their ideas and work ethic, said TiE Silicon Valley president Vish Mishra. And many knew one another.

"How do you develop friendships in a new country?" said Mr. Mishra, also the venture director at Clearstone Venture Partners. "Rajiv Goel was Rajaratnam's college mate. That happens in every society in every community."

For some immigrants, the attraction to hedge funds was logical. Jobs were competitive and lucrative, yet favored the mathematically minded. Compared to the cozy world of investment banking, some South Asians might have found hedge funds to be more of a meritocracy, according to observers.

Some Indians now fear resentment may spring from the emerging scandal. "A level of success invites a level of scrutiny, that is always a natural consequence of success," said Rajiv Khanna, president of the India-America Chamber of Commerce. "It's not good publicity for the Indian businessman, but does [Bernard] Madoff define all the Jewish businessmen?"

"There've been so many scandals. This is one of several hundred," added Vivek Wadhwa, co-author of the Duke study and also a Harvard researcher who has examined immigrant education and networks.

"All it shows is that Indians are coming of age," he said. "We have our bad apples too."

[Macaca]

Scandal Plays Out Among New Power Elite
Billionaire Rajaratnam, Prosecutor Bharara Come From Same Highly Successful Immigrant Group
BY S. MITRA KALITA | Wall Street Journal, Oct 20 2009

It seems like a courtroom drama made for Bollywood: The Sri Lankan hedge-fund kingpin pursued by a fellow immigrant, the Indian-born U.S. attorney for Manhattan.

But the case against Raj Rajaratnam is very much an American story. Mr. Rajaratnam, the billionaire founder of Galleon Group, and Preet Bharara -- the Indian-born, Ivy League-educated prosecutor -- belong to a relatively small immigrant group who have formed a power elite in the U.S., with positions in corporate boardrooms and a governor's mansion.

An estimated 2.5 million Indians live in the U.S., less than 1% of the total population. But in recent years, South Asians have found disproportionate success in technology and financial services, businesses at the core of the insider-trading allegations unveiled last week.

Authorities say Mr. Rajaratnam conspired with Intel Capital employee Rajiv Goel and Anil Kumar, a director of McKinsey & Co. global management-consulting firm, between 2006 and 2008. All three received M.B.A. degrees from the Wharton School. All have denied wrongdoing.

Unlike earlier generations of immigrants, the 1965 law opening U.S. borders abolished quotas and favored the brightest and best-educated. That allowed South Asians particularly to penetrate and dominate highly skilled professions, said Ravi Batra, a prominent Indian-American lawyer in New York City.

Mr. Rajaratnam was born and raised in Sri Lanka, an island nation off India's coast and the site of a long-running civil war. He studied engineering at the University of Sussex in England and graduated from Wharton in 1983.

The prosecutor in the case, Mr. Bharara, earned degrees from Harvard University and Columbia Law School. He was born in Ferozepur, India, and arrived in the U.S. as an infant.

The boom in high-technology and financial services lured consultants and investment bankers. Others turned entrepreneurial; one Duke University study found that more than a quarter of all tech start-ups in the U.S. between 1995 and 2005 were initiated by immigrants.

Among the more high-profile in the U.S. are PepsiCo Inc. Chief Executive Indra Nooyi and Silicon Valley financier Vinod Khosla.

Organizations such as the Indus Entrepreneurs, better known as TiE, often drew venture capitalists and people in private equity and hedge funds. Indian immigrants became known for their ideas and work ethic, said TiE Silicon Valley president Vish Mishra. And many knew one another.

"How do you develop friendships in a new country?" said Mr. Mishra, also the venture director at Clearstone Venture Partners. "Rajiv Goel was Rajaratnam's college mate. That happens in every society in every community."

For some immigrants, the attraction to hedge funds was logical. Jobs were competitive and lucrative, yet favored the mathematically minded. Compared to the cozy world of investment banking, some South Asians might have found hedge funds to be more of a meritocracy, according to observers.

Some Indians now fear resentment may spring from the emerging scandal. "A level of success invites a level of scrutiny, that is always a natural consequence of success," said Rajiv Khanna, president of the India-America Chamber of Commerce. "It's not good publicity for the Indian businessman, but does [Bernard] Madoff define all the Jewish businessmen?"

"There've been so many scandals. This is one of several hundred," added Vivek Wadhwa, co-author of the Duke study and also a Harvard researcher who has examined immigrant education and networks.

"All it shows is that Indians are coming of age," he said. "We have our bad apples too."

[Macaca]

What Does the Galleon Scandal Tell Us About the Impact Made by Indians Abroad? Wall Street Journal, Oct 31 2009

WSJIDEBATE is a forum for discussion on the top current affairs, economic and social issues of the day. It is led by a panel of students at Indian universities and colleges selected by The Wall Street Journal to write their views and to stimulate comment and debate among their peers. Each week, the panel will publish two pieces on a theme that keys off a major story that has run on india.wsj.com. To participate, just register and then add your comments through the Comment tab at the top of the panelist's article. We hope this will serve as a useful platform for young, engaged Indian readers to add their voices to the debate on the most important issues of our time.

Pritish Agarwal: You Can't Escape Your Background

Pritish has just graduated high school. He's planning to do a B.A. in English(H) in college, even though he had Commerce in school. He loves writing poems and articles, acting and public speaking. He's a diehard heavy metal fan, though he's also into many other genres of music. He ranks holding the position of Editor-in-chief in school as his finest achievement so far.

Living in India it is natural for one to hear a lot about international events involving Indians or "people of Indian origin." The most recent such case is the Galleon scandal, in which several Indians and a Sri Lankan have been linked to a large insider trading case. The thing that gained everyone's attention was the ethnicity of the masterminds involved. Clearly, there is a distinction to be drawn between "Senior Executives of X, Y and Z firms involved in hedge fund scandal" and "Lanka, India links in hedge fund scandal."

It is important to realize that if a person's national origin comes into the limelight, then it has a reason for doing so. Despite the fact that we live in a globalized world and so on and so forth, the people of a country still believe in a concept their own "people," in family trees, and a foreign ethnicity will always be a foreign ethnicity, no matter how long it may have been present there. This essentially tells us that at least in the minds of the people, there is a slight difference between, for example, a citizen of the U.S. and an "American."

Now, for a number of years Indians have migrated to the U.S. and to other countries in search of better education, higher paying jobs and a higher standard of living. They settle there and start families there, thinking of themselves and their children as bona fide Americans/Australians/etc. But there's a reason why they're called Non-Resident Indians: One always carries the baggage of one's culture and upbringing wherever one goes.

It is not uncommon to see mini-India communities in foreign countries and the inherent implication is that those who live there want to lead, and be seen to lead, lives that closely resemble those that they would have led at home. This in turn can lead to a subtle acceptance or absorption of certain social norms into their adopted country's day to day functioning but it also emphasizes the "Indian" influence of that adopted society. For example, an Indian dish may gain popularity, or certain foreigners may start observing certain Indian traditions after being exposed to them. Note: President Obama celebrated Diwali in the White House.

Looked at another way, you could say Indians have so penetrated the upper echelons of American commerce and finance that it is no surprise that there may be a few bad apples among them, as there would be among any ethnicity that was so widely represented. To those who might think otherwise, consider that the lead prosecutor in the case also is of Indian origin, as is at least one of the Securities and Exchange Commission staffers who have worked on the case.


Soumya Dasgupta: Ethnicity A Coincidence

Soumya Srijan Dasgupta is currently studying History at St. Stephen's College, Delhi University. He has always had an interest in current affairs and politics, but holds a lifelong obsession with music, especially when it comes to the sweet melodies of The Beatles. He is a big fan of Ogden Nash, and hopes to publish a collection of nonsense verse poems for children in the next few years.

The Galleon scandal has raised two main issues in the U.S., one of them a genuine grievance, the other an assumption based on coincidence.

First, the U.S. has found out the hard way that the economic ailment of insider trading is not dead, despite numerous laws, precautions and earlier cases which were uncovered. Second, there has been talk in a number of circles in America about the fact that there were several South Asians who were a part of this latest alleged financial debacle. This has focused attention on the phenomenon of the "Non-Resident Indian" who has, in the past, shown prowess in fields such as investment banking and technology and has therefore been able to make an impact on the American scene.

But surely one cannot consider this coincidental grouping of Asians as an indicator that the "Indian-ness" of those involved can be more than sheer chance. It would cast aspersions on the role of all Indians residing in America or for that matter in any foreign country.

Due to improved education in their home country, Indians have migrated to countries such as the U.S. to further their education or join the IT industry, for which they seem most suited, judging by the number of Indian developers and CEOs in multinational companies. Indians hold top positions in companies such as Intel, Microsoft, Google, McKinsey, Bain & Co. etc. and are among the highest earning ethnic groups in the country.

The chief flaw in citing ethnicity when something foes awry is this: Indians who migrate abroad and live there for extended periods of time, work there, raise a family, pay that country's taxes, are no longer part of an Indian family but a family of Indian origin. In the U.S. in particular, those of Indian extraction play a role in the country not as Indians, but as American citizens. You may find Indians in all aspects of American life but one must remember that these people are as Indian as the Windsors are German.

This point has been exhibited in the case of the governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal. Having been brought up in America, his Indian roots are somewhat blurred and seem to be restricted to his last name. He even adopted an American first name in place of his real given name – Piyush. He's a converted Roman Catholic and has put up a strong stand against immigrants to the U.S., despite being the son of two immigrants.

Having been in the limelight for so many years now, one can clearly see that the least looked-into characteristic of Jindal is his ethnicity. It was only brought up during his swearing-in as Louisiana governor and featured solely on Indian news channels. The fact that he was accepted by millions of Americans through the system of adult suffrage means that he is considered American enough to be involved in matters of state. This is just one of thousands of cases of immigrants doing well and being considered American rather than anything else.

This is essentially the problem with those of Asian origin moving to countries in the West. Until they make a name for themselves or for their adoptive countries, they are considered citizens. But when they are involved in cases such as the Galleon scandal, everything including their ethnicity is questioned and suspected. If a bunch of them were Mexicans then Mexico would be under fire, and one would see a similar response with Myanmar, Nigeria, Peru or any other country from which people have emigrated to the U.S. As a famous immigrant said, which sums up the argument effectively, "For America, you are American in your glory, but not when in shame."

[Macaca]

Polycentric Innovation: A New Mandate for Multinationals By NAVI RADJOU | Wall Street Journal, Nov 9 2009

What do John Deere, Cisco, and Obopay have in common? All three companies form a new breed of enlightened Western firms that have embraced what I call "polycentric innovation."

Polycentric innovation is an emerging business practice that consists of networking international talent, capital, and ideas to meet global demand for new products and services. Wait, isn't that what multinationals have been doing for decades? Not really. While it's true that leading American and European MNCs (I won't name any here for fear of embarrassing them) have been operating R&D centers in emerging markets like India and China for years, these regional R&D centers merely adapted existing technologies and products developed in the West for distribution in local markets.

While some MNCs do conduct original research in emerging markets, the products and services produced by their bright Indian and Chinese engineers and scientists have again been primarily geared for local market consumption only. As such most MNCs' R&D centers in emerging markets like India and China have traditionally had a narrow mandate or were not tightly integrated with the firms' global innovation network, whose center of gravity was solidly anchored in New York or London.

But John Deere, Cisco, and Obopay are turning this ethnocentric 20th century R&D model on its head by de-Westernizing their business model and shifting the epicenter of their global innovation network well beyond the borders of USA and European Union. And they are using India as the launch pad for their "polycentric" innovation approach.

Take John Deere. It has developed low-cost, high-value products—like the 5003 tractor series—entirely inspired by the frugal Indian market. For instance, after serving the cost-conscious Indian farmers, John Deere's 5003 tractor model is finding increasing demand in Western markets, including among farmers in the U.S. Midwest who are reeling under the recession. Raj Kalathur, managing director of John Deere India, points out that his firm could never have successfully developed and marketed this innovative product line globally if its top management had stuck to its U.S.-centric core business model, and if it didn't empower and connect a diverse team of U.S. and Indian engineers to collaboratively design low-cost, high-value products that benefit farmers worldwide. That's polycentric, networked innovation in action!

Cisco has been bolder than John Deere by taking polycentric innovation to a whole new level. Even a few years ago, when I was a tech analyst, I would have never believed that this tech giant would one day practice polycentric innovation given its parochial outlook (almost all Cisco's top execs used to be located in San Jose, the company's headquarters). But all this changed in 2007 when John Chambers, Cisco's CEO, opened in 2007 the Globalization Center East in Bangalore, which de facto acts as Cisco's second HQ. By dispatching Wim Elfrink, a Dutchman who is Cisco's number two exec, to head this new center, Chambers sent a strong message to his company on how serious he was about diffusing the locus of decision-making beyond the confines of Silicon Valley. GCE was given a global remit from Day One: it was tasked with launching whole new business units with high strategic relevance that would serve both emerging and developed markets.

Fast forward to 2009: Cisco's GCE is alive and kicking. I recently spoke to Dr. Anil Menon, who co-heads Cisco's globalization efforts out of Bangalore, who shared with pride the fact that GCE has successfully incubated and spawned a new business unit called Smart Connected Buildings that is now globally rolling out entire new products lines that integrate U.S. technology and Indian know-how. He also reiterated Chambers' commitment to shift 20% of Cisco's top leadership to Bangalore soon. These India-based senior execs, many of whom Indians promoted from within, will soon call the shots on how Cisco innovates (and even operates) globally. You can call it polycentric management philosophy!

John Deere and Cisco are large corporations pioneering the practice of polycentric innovation out of India. But you may ask: "What about small Western firms? Are they capable of orchestrating global innovation networks out of India?" The answer: You bet. Let me show you how a Silicon Valley startup called Obopay is practicing polycentric innovation with much gusto.

Obopay specializes in mobile banking services. Obopay's technology allows consumers and small businesses to buy, pay, and transfer money through any mobile phone via a simple text message. Thanks to Obopay, millions of unbanked people in places like Africa and India are having access to financial services for the first time in their life. Although Obopay's R&D team is spread across Silicon Valley and Bangalore, the technology and business inspiration for Obopay's cutting-edge solutions mainly comes from India, which is adding 10 million new cell phone subscribers each month and yet is home to 600 million unbanked citizens.

Carol Realini, Obopya's forward-thinking CEO, is keen to make basic banking services affordable not only for low-income Indians but also to the 106 million underbanked Americans who are turned down by the risk-averse U.S. banking system. These disenfranchised American citizens have much to gain from the innovative, affordable financial inclusion schemes which Obopay has developed and deployed in India. What is good for India can indeed be good for the world.

At the beginning, I called John Deere, Cisco, and Obopay "enlightened." Why? Because they recognize that we are rapidly shifting to a multipolar world in which the bulk of the economic growth will come from emerging markets like India. As a result, these smart firms are proactively using India to mold their post-Western global identity.

These visionary firms are engaging India not just as a low-cost talent supply base or a lucrative mass market for their offerings but as a test-bed for trialing 21st century operating models -- like polycentric innovation -- that are fit for the globally-networked knowledge economy. Let's hope more Western firms – MNCs and startups -- will embrace polycentric innovation and use their R&D hub in India to design, build, market, and manage new products and services with global relevance.

Navi Radjou is the executive director of the Centre for India & Global Business at the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge. (Centre for India & Global Business).