The Great Fall

The emerging economies may be dragons, tigers or elephants, but nevertheless they will surely experience the collateral damage of the bloodbath engulfing the US under the grip of a bear hug (“End of Good Times”, October 27, 2008). The great economic tsunami exposes a whirlpool ofgreed, hustle and gross mistakes, initiated by poor strategy, directionless planning and selfish capitalist manipulations. And the more than 50 per cent slide in the stock market started with the sub-prime crisis which has now escalated to a major global financial mess, resulting in amindless panic.The current financial crisis is not an accident. It was built up and nurtured over a period of time. During the past decade in India, the factual production engineering was sidelined by an abstract financial engineering. A new class of aggressive and overconfident greenhorns from B-schools boosted the markets to unprecedented heights. There was no dearth of investors whether in the stock market or realty. But no thought was given to the vulnerability of foreign investment. Having accepted globalisation, India was no more an isolated economy. Predictably, a crisis in the US was bound to affect India in more than one way, but hopefully we will bounce back in no time.