IMAGINING INDIA
IDEAS FOR THE NEW CENTURY

Nandan Nilekani
Allen Lane, Penguin Books India, 2008, 531p, `425
ISBN 9780670081967

Who would’ve thought that an entrepreneur who has revolutionized Information Technology (IT), not only in India but all across the world, would write a book on anything other than IT? Although it’s not very surprising that the author chose to write about Indian economy, the problems it faces and ideas that will solve these problems; the logical deduction from the author’s past experiences would point towards a book primarily about IT. However, the author’s past experience as an entrepreneur fighting customer perceptions of India’s delivery capabilities on one hand and bureaucratic hurdles on the other has helped write this book better.
The book primarily talks with the youth of the country as the driver of change that the country needs. India has the youngest population in the world with a median age of 23 years. The author emphasizes on how the relatively young work force of our country is more of an advantage to the country rather than a burden.
In this book, the author has presented a very optimistic picture of the future of the country and he considers the next few years of reforms to reinforce India as one of the dominant economies besides China. The author has also highlighted how people accept Globalization in the present time and how they have reacted to Globalization in the past. The author has given examples of Coca-Cola, McDonalds and KFC to elucidate how globalization was looked up at in the reform years of the past. However the author also notes that in the present, people welcome international brands and take pride in domestic brands gaining international popularity. Thus, the contrast in the views held by people in the past and in the present about globalization is brought out very well by the author.
One of the