The Great Indian Dreams!

The big change in India came in about 1991, when it opened up its economy to the world after years of protectionism and an economic crisis. As governments subsequently slashed tariffs, a middle class emerged and poverty plummeted at the fastest rate in the country's history.

Today's India still has many problems - grinding poverty and malnutrition, corruption, poor infrastructure, inordinate amounts of bureaucracy - but it also has new wealth and opportunity, which is attracting entrepreneurial talent from around the world.

A decade ago, maybe even less, if we told someone that we were moving to India, we would be met with a raised eyebrow.   India was a very slow developing economy at that point, and people looked at it and said 'What are you doing in India?'. Whereas now people say, 'Wow, you're in India'. Back then, we didn't have the fast food that was here... There weren't a variety of restaurants... Dress codes have changed, the country is less conservative than before and business dealings have become a lot more professional."

The rewards for those who can navigate the hurdles and frustrations can be extremely lucrative. India's economy might be growing at a slower pace than previous years, but it still is expanding at a rate around the 5% mark, compared with Western economies which are stagnating. This is becoming a magnet for some of the brightest graduates, looking for lucrative markets.  

The biggest reason why one moves to India is because of the opportunity; plain and simple. That's the only reason we'd leave a relatively very highly paid job in the west to move to a place that doesn't quite understand what we're doing... and to a place that is also quite uncertain.

The equation is straightforward: we want to be in India because we are smart; there's 1.2bn people and a lot of ways to service them, and at the end of the day I think there's a lot of money to be made. Goes without saying; that even a small dent in the vast Indian market has the potential to be larger than the US population/business equivalent. What I love about being  in India is that we get looked at as one of our own, for me that's something important I can give to the children.

Almost every day of my living in India; my mother asks me when I'm going back to the UK. That does not mean that she wants me to go back any sooner to London. Rather she counts the less number of days left from my fixed schedule in India to feel sad for herself. I'm not sure of the day; when my answer will be “NEVER”. For now, at least, London is just as much my home.