Domestic giants shake off their inferiority complexes
The sense of inferiority and a feeling that Indians were somehow not up to it, was not peculiar to India.
In his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, South African leader Nelson Mandela recalled his dismay when he found that the pilot of his plane was African.
He realised that his reaction was the same as the racist people he had been fighting all his life. Indians have had similarly negative perceptions about themselves.
However, it takes time to alter the sense of self. Amazing though it now seems, during the early years after the second world war, Japanese firms used to put the label 'Made in Japan' in such a small font in their export products that it was hardly legible. They feared that the inferior perception that the westerners held about Japanese products would hamper their sales.
It may have taken Indian business much longer, but they are now slowly realising their global clout. Here are some of the big Indian companies with big global dreams:
Dr K. Anji Reddy, 58, the soft-spoken founder and chairman of Dr Reddy's Laboratories, aspires to build his firm into a research-based drug major. It has discovered three molecules that it has licensed for diabetes drugs - two to Novo Nordisk and one to Novartis. It has operations in many countries.
Software giant Wipro wants to transform itself from being a provider of unglamorous back-office code-writing into a US$4 billion multinational that offers end-to-end software solutions. The idea is to take on the leviathans of the industry - IBM Global Consulting, Accenture and Electronic Data Service.
About 100,000 of carmaker Tata Indica's vehicles are being marketed in Europe by Rover, one of Britain's top car companies.
Pharmaceutical giant Ranbaxy aims to become a US$5 billion company by 2012. The firm exports to more than 70 countries, directly manages operations in 34 and manufactures in seven. Last year, Ranbaxy formed a research collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline, making it an even bigger global player. As it is, 70 per cent of Ranbaxy's revenues come from abroad.
