Country set to ride out market storm and 'sustain growth'

Executives of hi-tech companies and their investors may well be haunted by memories of the 2002 tech-stock bubble as Indian companies boom amid global economic uncertainty.

But this is being seen as merely a segment of the success that led Goldman Sachs to suggest in a report last January that India's economy will outgrow Britain's in a decade.

Those monitoring this growth on behalf of Hong Kong investors acknowledge that India's tech and outsource sector may not wholly escape the credit-crunch fallout in the United States. But both here and in India, there is a feeling that strength and growth can still be found in sectors other than those hit by jittery markets.

Traders and investors specialising in India appear confident of continuing to find opportunities for growth. The global march of the Tata Group, which this month unveiled the world's 'cheapest car', is just one example. Another is Hindustan Computers and its 14,000-rupee (HK$2,764) laptop - touted as the world's most economical.

Tata, though, has had bigger fish to fry, as seen with its takeover in January last year of the Anglo-Dutch steel giant, Corus, in an US$11.3billion deal. And India's former colonial masters are waiting to see whether Tata's bid for Land Rover and Jaguar can preserve the pride of the two British car brands.

One Hong Kong-based Indian, who is an analyst with an investment bank, said such headlines were 'a clear example that Indian companies have begun to show the strength of their innovation and understanding of market dynamics'.

'Indians are indeed making it big not just domestically, but on an international scale,' he said. 'This highlights the slow but steady penetration of the benefits of a growing empowered capitalism which understands the needs of consumers.'