The Unfair Advantage

The global world incraesingly will be a tougher world where change will be the only constant.

- Kumar Mangalam Birla

PREDICTION IS DIFFICULT, specially if it is about the future,” commented Niels Bohr, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics. True, the future is shrouded in uncertainty. Who could have imagined the tectonic shifts across the world in the last two decades that we have all been witness to. India has been no exception. It has been a defining period on all counts — economic, social and political. India has been on a transformative journey practically in every sphere. Twenty years on, the journey will continue at a more aggressive pace. I believe the changes will be even more phenomenal, given the complexities, and trends that we see today.

Increasing globalisation, environmental issues, progress in technology and research, as well as our demographics are the major factors that will have a marked influence in the foreseeable future. Let me focus on a few factors:

The United Nations, which had earlier forecast that India would become the most populated country in 2030, recently revised its projections adding that our country will overtake China in terms of population by 2022. India’s population is expected to top 1.56 billion by 2035, higher than China’s projected population of 1.49 billion. And with an additional 325 million people, India will continue to remain the most populated nation in the world 20 years from now.