Author: Atanu Dey, Mumbai. Cross-posted from Atanu Dey on India’s Development

Last month I spent a week in Delhi and Chennai with a delegation from Australia on a program called ‘Leading Australia’s Future in Asia-Pacific’ or LAFIA. It was comprised of senior government officials from Australia and NZ. LAFIA is a joint program run by the Crawford School of Economics and Government at the Australian National University and the Australian Public Service Commission which visits a set of countries each year to get an in-depth understanding. This year it was Singapore, India and Thailand. I got the opportunity to present my views of where I thought India was headed (and also got to meet and hear some interesting people across a wide spectrum of activities.)

Discussing India with LAFIA delegates was an intense learning experience. It helped me figure out how I feel about India and it revealed to me what I knew subconsciously but that I had never articulated. What I figured out is this: that India is going to succeed. And that the success is going to be driven by the people of India — through the private sector. Remember that the private sector is made up of people, just like the public sector. It is the people of India with their entrepreneurial skills and their desire to do well that will end up with India doing well.

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