Impact of globalization on India[/b]
INTRODUCTION[/b]:[/b]
Globalisation is the new buzzword that has come to dominate the world since the nineties of the last century with the end of the cold war and the break-up of the former Soviet Union and the global trend towards the rolling ball. The frontiers of the state with increased reliance on the market economy and renewed faith in the private capital and resources, a process of structural adjustment spurred by the studies and influences of the World Bank and other International organisations have started in many of the developing countries. Also Globalisation has brought in new opportunities to developing countries. Greater access to developed country markets and technology transfer hold out promise improved productivity and higher living standard. But globalisation has also thrown up new challenges like growing inequality across and within nations, volatility in financial market and environmental deteriorations. Another negative aspect of globalisation is that a great majority of developing countries remain removed from the process. Till the nineties the process of globalisation of the Indian economy was constrained by the barriers to trade and investment liberalisation of trade, investment and financial flows initiated in the nineties has progressively lowered the barriers to competition and hastened the pace of globalisation
DEFINITION OF GLOBALIZATION[/b]:
Though the precise definition of globalisation is still unavailable a few definitions worth viewing, Stephen Gill: defines globalisation as the reduction of transaction cost of transborder movements of capital and goods thus of factors of production and goods. Guy Brainbant: says that the process of globalisation not only includes opening up of world trade, development of advanced means of communication, internationalisation of financial markets, growing importance of MNC's, population migrations and more generally increased mobility of persons, goods, capital, data and ideas but also infections, diseases and pollution
IMPACT ON INDIA[/b]:[/b]
India opened up the economy in the early nineties following a major crisis that led by a foreign exchange crunch that dragged the economy close to defaulting on loans. The response was a slew of Domestic and external sector policy measures partly prompted by the immediate needs and partly by the demand of the multilateral organisations. The new policy regime radically pushed forward in favour of amore open and market oriented economy.
Major measures initiated as a part of the liberalisation and globalisation strategy in the early nineties included scrapping of the industrial licensing regime, reduction in the number of areas reserved for the public sector, amendment of the monopolies and the restrictive trade practices act, start of the privatisation programme, reduction in tariff rates and change over to market determined exchange rates.
Over the years there has been a steady liberalisation of the current account transactions, more and more sectors opened up for foreign direct investments and portfolio investments facilitating entry of foreign investors in telecom, roads, ports, airports, insurance and other major sectors.
[/i][/b]
India is global[/i][/b]:
[/i][/b]This is major improvement given that India is growth rate in the 1970's was very low at 3% and GDP growth in countries like Brazil, Indonesia, Korea, and Mexico was more than twice that of India. Though India's average annual growth rate almost doubled in the eighties to 5.9% it was still lower than the growth rate in China, Korea and Indonesia. The pick up in GDP growth has helped improve India's global position. Consequently India's position in the global economy has improved from the 8th position in 1991 to 4th place in 2001. When GDP is calculated on a purchasing power parity basis.
Globalisation and Poverty[/i][/b]:[/i][/b]
Globalisation in the form of increased integration though trade and investment is an important reason why much progress has been made in reducing poverty and global inequality over recent decades. But it is not the only reason for this often unrecognised progress, good national polices , sound institutions and domestic political stability also matter.
Understanding the current status of globalisation is necessary for setting course for future. For all nations to reap the full benefits of globalisation it is essential to create a level playing field. President Bush's recent proposal to eliminate all tariffs on all manufactured goods by 2015 will do it. In fact it may exacerbate the prevalent inequalities. According to this proposal, tariffs of 5% or less on all manufactured goods will be eliminated by 2005 and higher than 5% will be lowered to 8%. Starting 2010 the 8% tariffs will be lowered each year until they are eliminated by 2015.
[/i][/b]
GDP Growth rate[/i][/b]:[/i][/b]
The Indian economy is passing through a difficult phase caused by several unfavourable domestic and external developments; Domestic output and Demand conditions were adversely affected by poor performance in agriculture in the past two yearsThe GDP of India with regards to purchasing power parity is approximately 4.463 trillion dollars, which places it in the 4th position in the world. With regards to official exchange rate its GDP is close to $1.843 trillion.
At the end of 2011 the real rate of India GDP was approximately 7.8 percent, which gives it the 15th rank from a global perspective. In 2010 this was almost 10.1% and in 2009 it was close to 6.8%.
Indian stand in terms of Global Integration[/i][/b]
India clearly lags in globalisation. Number of countries have a clear lead among them China, large part of east and far east Asia and eastern Europe. Lets look at a few indicators how much we lag.
v ·[/b]Over the past decade FDI flows into India have averaged around 0.5% of GDP against 5% for China 5.5% for Brazil. Whereas FDI inflows into China now exceeds US $ 50 billion annually. It is only US $ 4billion in the case of India
v ·Consider global trade - India's share of world merchandise exports increased from .05% to .07% over the pat 20 years. Over the same period China's share has tripled to almost 4%.
v ·India's share of global trade is similar to that of the Philippines an economy 6 times smaller according to IMF estimates. India under trades by 70-80% given its size, proximity to markets and labour cost advantages.
v ·It is interesting to note the remark made last year by Mr. Bimal Jalan, Governor of RBI. Despite all the talk, we are now where ever close being globalised in terms of any commonly used indicator of globalisation. In fact we are one of the least globalised among the major countries - however we look at it.
v ·As Amartya Sen and many other have pointed out that India, as a geographical, politico-cultural entity has been interacting with the outside world throughout history and still continues to do so. It has to adapt, assimilate and contribute. This goes without saying even as we move into what is called a globalised world which is distinguished from previous eras from by faster travel and communication, greater trade linkages, denting of political and economic sovereignty and greater acceptance of democracy as a way of life.
Globalization is the new catchphrase in the world economy, dominating the globe since the nineties of the last century. People relied more on the market economy, had more faith in private capital and resources, international organizations started playing a vital role in the development of developing countries. The impact of globalization has been fair enough on the developing economies to a certain extent. It brought along with it varied opportunities for the developing countries. It gave a fillip for better access to the developed markets. The technology transfer promised better productivity and thus improved standard of living.
[/i]
The Negative Effects of Globalization[/i] [/i][/b]
In order to cut down costs, many firms in developed nations have outsourced their manufacturing and white-collar jobs to Third-World countries like India and China, where the cost of labor is low. The most prominent among these have been jobs in the customer service field as many developing nations have a large English-speaking population - ready to work at one-fifth of what someone in developed world may call 'low-pay'. This has caused a lot of resentment among the people of developed countries, and companies have been accused of taking their jobs away. Another problem is that many Americans are not satisfied with the level of customer service that they are subjected to, and this has caused a lot of animosity among people and has added to the dissent that people already have against outsourcing.
There are various schools of thought which argue that globalization has led to an increase in activities such as child labor and slavery. In countries with little or no accountability, corporations employing children can work smoothly by bribing the officials, which may result in an increase in illegal activities. Critics opine that globalization has resulted in a fiercely-competitive global market, and unethical practices in business is a by-product of this.
Globalization may have inadvertently helped terrorists and criminals. At the heart of globalization is an idea that humans, materials, food etc. be allowed to travel freely across borders, but 9/11 was a ghastly reminder that people with evil intentions can use it as an opportunity and cause damage.
It is not only the developed nations that are complaining about its negative effects, people in developing nations - where most of the industries have been set up, have their own set of reasons against globalization. They often complain that their cities have been reduced to garbage-dumps where all the industrial waste is accumulated and pollution levels are sky-high.
Fast food chains like McDonalds and KFC are spreading fast in the developing world. People are consuming more junk food which has an adverse impact on their health. Apart from the health concerns, there is something else that globalization has been criticized for, and it is the accusation that it has opened floodgates for restaurants and eateries which are insensitive to the religious beliefs of the host nation. For example, a lawsuit had to be filed against McDonalds in India, after it was accused of serving beef in their burgers.
While the rich are getting richer, the poor are struggling for a square meal. If the current Occupy Wall Street protests are a reminder of how angry people are with the current set-up, then those who govern us should take notice, and work towards alleviating poverty. Ideally, globalization should have resulted in creation of wealth and prosperity, but corporate greed and corrupt government has ensured that money is not distributed equally.
When the first-known case of AIDS came up in America, only few would have traced its origin to Sub-Saharan Africa. Globalization bought people from various countries together, and this is perhaps the reason that a virus from a jungle was transported to almost every country in the world.
Environmental degradation is an issue which has been debated ferociously in various international meetings, and it has to be accepted that globalization is one of the most important factors that has aggravated the situation. The amount of raw materials needed to run industries and factories is taking a toll on the natural reserves of planet earth, and pollution has severely impacted the quality of air that we need so very much for our survival.
[/list]
As we mentioned in the beginning of the article that like everything else, globalization has its own share of kudos and brickbats. We have reached a stage since our evolution that discarding the concept of globalization may not be possible at all, therefore, the strategy should be to find solutions to the threats it poses to us so that we can work towards a better, fulfilling future.
CONSEQUENCES[/b]:[/b]
The implications of globalisation for a national economy are many. Globalisation has intensified interdependence and competition between economies in the world market. This is reflected in Interdependence in regard to trading in goods and services and in movement of capital. As a result domestic economic developments are not determined entirely by domestic policies and market conditions. Rather, they are influenced by both domestic and international policies and economic conditions. It is thus clear that a globalising economy, while formulating and evaluating its domestic policy cannot afford to ignore the possible actions and reactions of policies and developments in the rest of the world. This constrained the policy option available to the government which implies loss of policy autonomy to some extent, in decision-making at the national level.
INTRODUCTION[/b]:[/b]
Globalisation is the new buzzword that has come to dominate the world since the nineties of the last century with the end of the cold war and the break-up of the former Soviet Union and the global trend towards the rolling ball. The frontiers of the state with increased reliance on the market economy and renewed faith in the private capital and resources, a process of structural adjustment spurred by the studies and influences of the World Bank and other International organisations have started in many of the developing countries. Also Globalisation has brought in new opportunities to developing countries. Greater access to developed country markets and technology transfer hold out promise improved productivity and higher living standard. But globalisation has also thrown up new challenges like growing inequality across and within nations, volatility in financial market and environmental deteriorations. Another negative aspect of globalisation is that a great majority of developing countries remain removed from the process. Till the nineties the process of globalisation of the Indian economy was constrained by the barriers to trade and investment liberalisation of trade, investment and financial flows initiated in the nineties has progressively lowered the barriers to competition and hastened the pace of globalisation
DEFINITION OF GLOBALIZATION[/b]:
Though the precise definition of globalisation is still unavailable a few definitions worth viewing, Stephen Gill: defines globalisation as the reduction of transaction cost of transborder movements of capital and goods thus of factors of production and goods. Guy Brainbant: says that the process of globalisation not only includes opening up of world trade, development of advanced means of communication, internationalisation of financial markets, growing importance of MNC's, population migrations and more generally increased mobility of persons, goods, capital, data and ideas but also infections, diseases and pollution
IMPACT ON INDIA[/b]:[/b]
India opened up the economy in the early nineties following a major crisis that led by a foreign exchange crunch that dragged the economy close to defaulting on loans. The response was a slew of Domestic and external sector policy measures partly prompted by the immediate needs and partly by the demand of the multilateral organisations. The new policy regime radically pushed forward in favour of amore open and market oriented economy.
Major measures initiated as a part of the liberalisation and globalisation strategy in the early nineties included scrapping of the industrial licensing regime, reduction in the number of areas reserved for the public sector, amendment of the monopolies and the restrictive trade practices act, start of the privatisation programme, reduction in tariff rates and change over to market determined exchange rates.
Over the years there has been a steady liberalisation of the current account transactions, more and more sectors opened up for foreign direct investments and portfolio investments facilitating entry of foreign investors in telecom, roads, ports, airports, insurance and other major sectors.
[/i][/b]
India is global[/i][/b]:
[/i][/b]This is major improvement given that India is growth rate in the 1970's was very low at 3% and GDP growth in countries like Brazil, Indonesia, Korea, and Mexico was more than twice that of India. Though India's average annual growth rate almost doubled in the eighties to 5.9% it was still lower than the growth rate in China, Korea and Indonesia. The pick up in GDP growth has helped improve India's global position. Consequently India's position in the global economy has improved from the 8th position in 1991 to 4th place in 2001. When GDP is calculated on a purchasing power parity basis.
Globalisation and Poverty[/i][/b]:[/i][/b]
Globalisation in the form of increased integration though trade and investment is an important reason why much progress has been made in reducing poverty and global inequality over recent decades. But it is not the only reason for this often unrecognised progress, good national polices , sound institutions and domestic political stability also matter.
Understanding the current status of globalisation is necessary for setting course for future. For all nations to reap the full benefits of globalisation it is essential to create a level playing field. President Bush's recent proposal to eliminate all tariffs on all manufactured goods by 2015 will do it. In fact it may exacerbate the prevalent inequalities. According to this proposal, tariffs of 5% or less on all manufactured goods will be eliminated by 2005 and higher than 5% will be lowered to 8%. Starting 2010 the 8% tariffs will be lowered each year until they are eliminated by 2015.
[/i][/b]
GDP Growth rate[/i][/b]:[/i][/b]
The Indian economy is passing through a difficult phase caused by several unfavourable domestic and external developments; Domestic output and Demand conditions were adversely affected by poor performance in agriculture in the past two yearsThe GDP of India with regards to purchasing power parity is approximately 4.463 trillion dollars, which places it in the 4th position in the world. With regards to official exchange rate its GDP is close to $1.843 trillion.
At the end of 2011 the real rate of India GDP was approximately 7.8 percent, which gives it the 15th rank from a global perspective. In 2010 this was almost 10.1% and in 2009 it was close to 6.8%.
Indian stand in terms of Global Integration[/i][/b]
India clearly lags in globalisation. Number of countries have a clear lead among them China, large part of east and far east Asia and eastern Europe. Lets look at a few indicators how much we lag.
v ·[/b]Over the past decade FDI flows into India have averaged around 0.5% of GDP against 5% for China 5.5% for Brazil. Whereas FDI inflows into China now exceeds US $ 50 billion annually. It is only US $ 4billion in the case of India
v ·Consider global trade - India's share of world merchandise exports increased from .05% to .07% over the pat 20 years. Over the same period China's share has tripled to almost 4%.
v ·India's share of global trade is similar to that of the Philippines an economy 6 times smaller according to IMF estimates. India under trades by 70-80% given its size, proximity to markets and labour cost advantages.
v ·It is interesting to note the remark made last year by Mr. Bimal Jalan, Governor of RBI. Despite all the talk, we are now where ever close being globalised in terms of any commonly used indicator of globalisation. In fact we are one of the least globalised among the major countries - however we look at it.
v ·As Amartya Sen and many other have pointed out that India, as a geographical, politico-cultural entity has been interacting with the outside world throughout history and still continues to do so. It has to adapt, assimilate and contribute. This goes without saying even as we move into what is called a globalised world which is distinguished from previous eras from by faster travel and communication, greater trade linkages, denting of political and economic sovereignty and greater acceptance of democracy as a way of life.
Positive impacts of Globalization[/i]
Globalization is the new catchphrase in the world economy, dominating the globe since the nineties of the last century. People relied more on the market economy, had more faith in private capital and resources, international organizations started playing a vital role in the development of developing countries. The impact of globalization has been fair enough on the developing economies to a certain extent. It brought along with it varied opportunities for the developing countries. It gave a fillip for better access to the developed markets. The technology transfer promised better productivity and thus improved standard of living.
[/i]
The Negative Effects of Globalization[/i] [/i][/b]
In order to cut down costs, many firms in developed nations have outsourced their manufacturing and white-collar jobs to Third-World countries like India and China, where the cost of labor is low. The most prominent among these have been jobs in the customer service field as many developing nations have a large English-speaking population - ready to work at one-fifth of what someone in developed world may call 'low-pay'. This has caused a lot of resentment among the people of developed countries, and companies have been accused of taking their jobs away. Another problem is that many Americans are not satisfied with the level of customer service that they are subjected to, and this has caused a lot of animosity among people and has added to the dissent that people already have against outsourcing.
There are various schools of thought which argue that globalization has led to an increase in activities such as child labor and slavery. In countries with little or no accountability, corporations employing children can work smoothly by bribing the officials, which may result in an increase in illegal activities. Critics opine that globalization has resulted in a fiercely-competitive global market, and unethical practices in business is a by-product of this.
Globalization may have inadvertently helped terrorists and criminals. At the heart of globalization is an idea that humans, materials, food etc. be allowed to travel freely across borders, but 9/11 was a ghastly reminder that people with evil intentions can use it as an opportunity and cause damage.
It is not only the developed nations that are complaining about its negative effects, people in developing nations - where most of the industries have been set up, have their own set of reasons against globalization. They often complain that their cities have been reduced to garbage-dumps where all the industrial waste is accumulated and pollution levels are sky-high.
Fast food chains like McDonalds and KFC are spreading fast in the developing world. People are consuming more junk food which has an adverse impact on their health. Apart from the health concerns, there is something else that globalization has been criticized for, and it is the accusation that it has opened floodgates for restaurants and eateries which are insensitive to the religious beliefs of the host nation. For example, a lawsuit had to be filed against McDonalds in India, after it was accused of serving beef in their burgers.
While the rich are getting richer, the poor are struggling for a square meal. If the current Occupy Wall Street protests are a reminder of how angry people are with the current set-up, then those who govern us should take notice, and work towards alleviating poverty. Ideally, globalization should have resulted in creation of wealth and prosperity, but corporate greed and corrupt government has ensured that money is not distributed equally.
When the first-known case of AIDS came up in America, only few would have traced its origin to Sub-Saharan Africa. Globalization bought people from various countries together, and this is perhaps the reason that a virus from a jungle was transported to almost every country in the world.
Environmental degradation is an issue which has been debated ferociously in various international meetings, and it has to be accepted that globalization is one of the most important factors that has aggravated the situation. The amount of raw materials needed to run industries and factories is taking a toll on the natural reserves of planet earth, and pollution has severely impacted the quality of air that we need so very much for our survival.
[/list]
As we mentioned in the beginning of the article that like everything else, globalization has its own share of kudos and brickbats. We have reached a stage since our evolution that discarding the concept of globalization may not be possible at all, therefore, the strategy should be to find solutions to the threats it poses to us so that we can work towards a better, fulfilling future.
CONSEQUENCES[/b]:[/b]
The implications of globalisation for a national economy are many. Globalisation has intensified interdependence and competition between economies in the world market. This is reflected in Interdependence in regard to trading in goods and services and in movement of capital. As a result domestic economic developments are not determined entirely by domestic policies and market conditions. Rather, they are influenced by both domestic and international policies and economic conditions. It is thus clear that a globalising economy, while formulating and evaluating its domestic policy cannot afford to ignore the possible actions and reactions of policies and developments in the rest of the world. This constrained the policy option available to the government which implies loss of policy autonomy to some extent, in decision-making at the national level.