As Edward mentioned, I am very glad that we finally have a weblog on Indian Economy. I am not an economist. My expertise is more on the business of technology, rather than on the economy. But like many other Indians living away from home, I do like to keep a wary eye on the Indian economy, keeping expectations within the bounds of cynicism and at the same time hoping that it would take finally take off.

It is an interesting moment for the Indian economy. The services sector, which has been gathering steam for the last decade or so, has taken off spectacularly, fueled by the outsourcing revenue from USA and Western Europe. A combination of easy availability of a trained pool of resources, adequate infrastructure, domain knowledge about the west and comfort with the English language coincided with the need for cheaper service sector alternatives in the West. We were ready and we were there.

It is also a 'fleeting moment'. We have an opportunity to capture this moment, keep a forgotten pledge an old man once made so eloquently and bootstrap our rickety infrastructures to ride into the twenty first century. It requires able leadership and strong discipline. Both are sorely lacking in India. But as I am fond of saying, successive generations of Indians have a made a success of their lives in spite of their politicians.

I am interested in exploring how our infrastructure copes with the exponentially increasing demands of the services sector, if and how can we extend our success in services into the over all economy, into improvement of basic infrastructure and the over all quality of living. I am interested in following how it all pans out for us.

I am grateful to Edward for starting this weblog and inviting me to participate!