Recently I came across a nice photograph of a rag-picker who seems to be withdrawing money from an ATM. I found the photograph at Arun's Weblog, and posted it also on My Weblog. I don't know if the picture is photoshopped or real, but truly reflects a stark face of the changing India.

Outlook India has an interesting piece on how online tutorial is becoming the next big thing for the Indian KPO industry.

According to market estimates, online tutoring companies in India earned around $10 million last year and 80 per cent of the earnings were from the US.

At present, there are four main Indian e-tuition providers: Educomp (Delhi), TutorVista (Bangalore), Growing Stars (Kerala) and Career Launcher (Delhi).

Since Indian tutors charge less ($20-$30 per hour) than Americans ($60-$100 per hour) and because Indians are known for their proficiency in maths and science, business is booming for the handful of e-tutoring firms in India.

Get the entire piece here.

Rapid economic growth is changing the face of India and China, mostly for the better but sometimes for the worst.

At the core of this change is the new jobs that are being created for the poor - in IT and outsourced services for India and manufacturing in China.

BusinessWeek is running an engaging slideshow with images reflecting the changes that are happening on the ground, and the people whose lives are getting transformed.

During the late 70s and the early 80s, one of the most recurrent themes across the middle class aspiration segment was a home of it's own.

That seemed to long be a thing of the past with the boom in the home-loan segment by the end of 2000. Imperceptibly, this last few years the prices in the real estate segment are increasing to heights that the average lawful hard working indian cannot reach.

Rediff reports on Why real estate prices are so high?

Two issues should get attention. First, it is natural for house prices to climb when the economy is doing well, incomes are rising and interest rates are low. All those factors encourage investment in housing, so demand increases and there is nothing wrong with that. The issue that should get attention is the supply side: What are we doing to ensure that supply grows with demand, so that prices stay reasonable? The answer is: Precious little.

India's capital city isn't in capital conditions. The Supreme Court of India has directed the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to demolish and seal all shops around residential areas.

This is in accordance with the Master Plan 2021 that most of delhi has grossly and illegally ignored till now.

At the moment though, there is a high amount of resistance from the trading community, as understandeably their means of livelihood(albeit illegal for all this while) is suddenly gone. There has been a certain amount of gloom in the air. Angry demonstrations, road jams, and forcible breaking open of the seals despite strict directives to the contrary are the norm. Most consumer companies also closed their financial year on a low note due to these impending clamp-downs.

The concept of a 'global village' has raised eyebrows since its popularisation in the 90's.

Many describe globalisation as the shift of companies in America to countries with cheaper workforce, the best example being India.

However, economists beleive that it has a wider implication. It could be described as 'a division of economic prowess towards the east'.

John Gray, Professor of European Thought at the London School of Economics, says that "like any other large historical change rooted in technological development , globalisation will have both good and bad aspects".

BBC further discusses the impact of globalisation.

What is wrong with India, and what will it take to set it right. This is pretty much the summary of Lee Kuan Yew's address at the 37th Jawaharlal Memorial Lecture on 21st Nov 2005 in New Delhi.

Two months later, Atanu Dey takes the message apart and gives his take on what Lew really wanted to say and why India should listen.

Take in more of his incisive commentary at IndianEconomy.org.

Big investments and huge markets are pushing India to become a global production base hub for small cars.

India can boast of world class capabilities in the production of small cars owing to its strong domestic market. Of the 800,000 cars sold in the country in the last one year, 600,000 were small cars of engine capacity up to 1,300 cc. And the market could just explode if Tata Motors succeeds in bringing out its Rs 1-lakh car.

Business Standard reports on the recent big ticket investment by Maruti.

India's Sensex index is approaching 10,000 for the first time. Demand from overseas investors for the country's stocks may push the benchmark over the top.

Moreover... "Not even half the money that wants to enter the Indian markets has come in yet,"" said Jon Thorn, an investor based in Hong Kong.

Read more at Bloomberg.Com.

Surjit S Bhalla argues in an article on the Business Standard that a 8% GDP growth for India might be a tad to easy to achieve.

...industrial growth should easily coast at 8% plus levels. Growth in services has historically averaged about 2% higher than industry, which means that services growth should be at least 9% plus. These two sectors, accounting for 80% of GDP, should allow GDP growth to be above 7%. And if agricultural growth matches its long-run average, Indian GDP growth will be 8%.

The article also refutes the populist hyperbole in the UPA government’s claim that if Indians want GDP growth to be 8% plus, then agriculture has to grow at 4%

Read the entire article here.