Thursday, April 23, 2009

Delhi Development


Travelling to India from Rwanda was an extremely interesting experience. Having studied India extensively for my International Development degree, the India that I had imagined, based on the development literature, was far for the reality I experienced once landed in New Delhi. I suspect, that if I had never lived in sub-Saharan Africa and I flown from Canada to India, I would have been more affected by the poverty that is still pervasive in India. But instead, coming from Rwanda, I was more impressed by the industry and the wealth. Only 12% of India’s GDP is from imports, which means that a huge amount of their resources are found within their own country and their massive population both drives the demand, and supplies industry with the human capital to meet the demands. Within Delhi I was overwhelmed by the number of massive malls filled with retail activity, and then as we left Delhi, I was even more impressed by the large manufacturing centers where the world’s biggest brand names from all industries were sprawled on busy factory buildings. It became clear to me just how far Sub-Saharan Africa has yet to go before they can be considered global economic players.

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