India Essay

Globalisation in India

Globalization is ‘the process by which businesses or organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scale.’ Economic globalization is ‘the increasing interdependence of national economies that has resulted from growing levels of trade between nations. This can affect developing counties positively in many ways such as economic processes, technological developments, and social and natural environmental factors many new opportunities have also been brought to developing countries from globalization such as easier access to more developed countries markets and improved productivity and living standards. However, there are also many ways in which globalization negatively affects developing countries such as it can harm the environment and hinder the financial market. A developing country is a country with little industrial and economic activity where people generally have low incomes.’

Globalization has encouraged developing countries, such as India, to enter the financial markets by decreasing trade barriers that they were not able to overcome. These changes have helped the country solve certain poverty problems; this has been done by developed countries investing in developing countries to provide more jobs for the poorer members of society. An example of this would be the rapid growth in India causing world poverty to decrease due to globalization creating strong relationships between developing countries (India) and developed countries (China) as one country begins to depend on another. Since becoming more developed the poverty in India has decreased dramatically from 1993-1994 when the population below the poverty line was at an all-time high of 45.3%, however since becoming more developed in more recent studies (2011-2012) it can be seen to reduce massively to 21.9%. This means that people who live in India have been given the chance to earn a living in order to support themselves and their families, this also helps the economy as if individuals have more money to spend then there will be more money within the economy so that the country itself can become more developed.

As well as this, globalization has meant that it is safer to live in certain countries that were often at the threat of war, this has been made possible due to countries trading together and creating alliances. With different countries coming together in business peace can be obtained, along with this, the growth in the communication between countries and individuals has helped to raise free trade between countries which eventually led to economic growth.

Over the last 15 years India has seen a large 211% rise in wealth which is much higher than many developing countries, for example, the US and the UK, it has also been named one of the fastest growing economies in the world. India’s wealth per capita increased from $900 in 2000 to $2,800 in 2015 and is now listed 10th richest in the world, however, India only reaches this due to its high population meaning that the country overall is still quite poor. One of India’s main sources of income comes from its agriculture, India is one of the world’s top 10 fisheries with a total catch of 3 million metric tons, it is also the largest producer of lemons, mangoes, and papayas and the second largest for wheat and rice. However, agriculture in India is inefficient due to there being a water shortage and farmers relying on monsoons in order to grow their crops. There are also limited places for farmers to store their crops which can lead to possible spoilage before the crops have been distributed.

Globalization has also impacted India in a technological and cultural way, access to television in India has grown from 20% of the urban population (1991) to 90% of the urban population (2009), and rural area markets are also growing with more people living in them having television too, the internet access has also increased, everywhere in India is now able to go on the internet. Many famous international brands are also investing in the Indian market, such as Gucci and Nike as a way to keep up with new fashion statements that they wear. Larger brands are doing this because Indians are seen as ‘trend setters’ therefore if the popular brands follow Indian fashion they will be seen as keeping up with the everchanging trends of the fashion world and may end up becoming more respected by other fashion brands.

A benefit of globalization to the Indian industry would be that it has brought many foreign investments into India, for example, pharmaceutical and petroleum. Employment was provided for Indian citizens due to large foreign companies setting up industries in India, these foreign direct investments boosted the economy, and with the levels of unemployment and poverty decreasing people have more to spend and can therefore spend on luxuries. This side of globalization also helped India advance their technology as the foreign companies brought this technology along with them which helped India gain an advantage over other developing countries that did not have access to this technology.

India’s education has also benefitted from globalization with an adult literacy rate of 72.2% in 2015. This is due to India’s economy having more money which enables parents to send their children to school or themselves if they missed out. Due to many of India’s population now being educated, they are able to get better opportunities which leads them to try for better-paying jobs. Foreign universities are also paired with Indian universities to allow students from across the world to study on their campus and learn about their culture, pairing up with other universities also allows Indian students to go to other countries if they can afford it and get further education there.

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A benefit of globalization to the Indian industry would be that it has brought many foreign investments into India, for example, pharmaceutical and petroleum. Employment was provided for Indian citizens due to large foreign companies setting up industries in India, these foreign direct investments boosted the economy, and with the levels of unemployment and poverty decreasing people have more to spend and can therefore spend on luxuries. This side of globalization also helped India advance their technology as the foreign companies brought this technology along with them which helped India gain an advantage over other developing countries that did not have access to this technology.

However, globalization has also caused some problems in India, for example, there is now a large gap between the rich and the poor members of society as many of India’s population still live in poverty. Their statistics for the population living below the poverty line may have decreased but this is mainly due to politicians not including them in the census, these groups mainly contain women and minority ethnic tribes and are called ‘the forgotten poor’, by pretending that these people do not exist it may hinder their status within society as if they are seen to be living poorly and not being included in things such as the government census these groups may feel excluded from society and may start to act or be treated that way which could cause problems for how children are brought up, this could then lead to an increase in the crime rate as they find another way to fit into social groups through seeking acceptance in illegitimate ways.

The gap between the rich and the poor may also cause problems because it gives more power to the higher classes as those who own the means of production also control what price products and services are sold at, therefore they are able to charge a higher price leaving the poor to go without due to them not being able to afford the goods or services as they now cost more to buy than they are being paid. This is then carried on through generations due to the rich leaving their wealth to their children, such as factories and farmland, this helps to keep the separation between the upper and lower class. Further to this, the gap between the rich and the poor can cause other problems such as terrorist attacks due to the poor feeling they are being victimized by the rich and exploited, if this occurred many people could be hurt and India could be left in a worse position than when it started as a war could commence between different parts of the country.

Globalization takes jobs away just as much as it provides them, this is because with the more advanced technology there is less need for manual labor, and therefore it can also increase unemployment. This could mean that employment rates stabilize and stay the same over many years due to the statistics increasing and decreasing as modern technologies are taken to India and put into practice. This unemployment means that people tend to immigrate over to more developed countries in order to find work and to have better living standards than in their home country. As larger businesses enter into these developing countries it can also push the members of the countries away which can lead to a ‘brain drain’ (Beine) in many developing countries.

Many people also argue that globalization leads to exploitation, this is because larger more powerful companies go to countries such as India to set up factories where they can produce their goods for a cheaper price due to India having a lower minimum wage, this means that the companies are about to pay these individuals less for their work than they can in other countries such as The UK. This invites other businesses to come and take advantage of those individuals who are willing to work for a considerably smaller wage than they would in any other job but due to opportunities being limited they have no other choice. However, globalization has made countries realize that they can work together and share the same values, for example, businesses paying the Indian population more than they legally have to due to it being more ethical which will, in turn, help the business as if consumers see the business as doing their ‘bit’ to help other societies who may not be as fortunate as their own they may be more willing to invest in their products.

Despite more of the Indian population being educated, many youths are leaving education at a young age to work in call centers in order to earn easy money from a young age (immediate gratification), this then leaves them inexperienced and uneducated when trying to seek a higher paying job in order to set themselves up a career for life. The small minority that decided to stay in education then tend to get better-paying jobs as they are higher qualified. This creates inequality within society as many of the members who go onto having better jobs then become wealthier which creates an upper class (the bourgeoisie), the upper class then tends to send their children to better schools and have a higher influence over keeping them in schools rather than them leaving at a young age to go and work, this then becomes a repeating cycle which leads to the rich controlling the poor in many ways such as by owning the means of production.

Another disadvantage of globalization could be that minority languages may start to disappear, this is due to larger, more predominant countries may take over and expecting developing countries to follow the same language and morals as they do, due to the developed country being very influential over the less developed countries they may start to adapt their ways, this means that small tribes may be pushed aside and forgotten about rather than all living harmoniously. For example, many of the Indian population now speak fluent English, due to their large population, India has become the second top country in the world for speaking English, mainly because of businesses such as Tesco sourcing many products from there, the members of that society and those who wish to work for Tesco learn the English language in order to communicate efficiently and stand out from others. Including this many Indian schools now have English lessons due to the growing demand of needing to be fluent in other languages besides their own, this puts the children who can afford an education at an advantage when starting out in life as they have better ways of communicating with others from foreign countries as many countries around the world speak English.

To conclude, the impact that globalization has on developing countries such as India is giant. It largely affects the country in both positive and negative ways, overall globalization has proven to be beneficial for India, this is due to it solving several poverty problems, increasing job opportunities for those who live there, trade barriers being lowered, and the overall wealth of the country is increased slightly. As well as these disadvantages of globalization it can also be highly damaging to the environment as the new technologies and equipment used can release toxic chemicals into the atmosphere, not only are the chemicals released from factories and equipment bad for the environment so are the fuels from planes which are used to bring the new technologies over and things such as deforestation happening to make room for all the new factories that companies are building.