If Bharti Airtel, one of the largest telecom companies in India, is successful in acquiring South Africa's MTN group, its valuation is estimated to go up higher than USD 75 billion – equivalent to Bangladesh's entire gross domestic product. The combined business of India's ten largest companies currently far exceeds the total combined GDP of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Indeed, when Mukesh Ambani, one of the richest people on the recent Forbes list, finishes building his two-billion-dollar, 27-storey home in Bombay, this "world's most opulent private residence" will have cost as much as the entire annual GDP of the Maldives.
It has taken less than two decades following India's liberalisation of the early 1990s for wealth creation and consumption to gain social acceptance. Today, manifestations of the consumer boom range from luxury cars, lavish weddings and birthday gifts of airplanes and yachts. The Nehruvian model viewed conspicuous consumption with distaste, and ended up taxing private wealth and income at levels that created an informal economy that in some ways superseded the formal economy. In a context in which the ideals of socialism were still afloat, the respected icons during those days were lead actors in Bollywood movies, who portrayed workers nobly fighting the capitalist class. Today, more and more is being written that blames both Jawaharlal Nehru and his daughter, Indira, for unduly restraining entrepreneurship, which can be seen as having led to the constantly strapped state coffers. The Indian government was made to lose huge revenue, as tax evasion became as much a way of life as swiping credit cards is today.
The situation is similar outside of India. The post-liberalisation kids in Southasia, those born around 1990, constitute the new spending class; unlike their middle-class parents, they do not think twice about shelling out for the latest-model motorcycle or car, or dining at an expensive restaurant. This segment of the population will dominate the Southasian population in the coming years, thereby inevitably bringing about a culture of consumption, and providing fertile grounds for private corporations to grow.
These youth also see what they consider to be a significantly more level playing field, as few obstacles stand between talent and opportunity. You no longer need to be wealthy to do the things over which rich kids were earlier perceived as having the monopoly. These could range from gaining admission to world-class education institutions, getting bank loans or buying the latest cell phone or digital camera. The power has shifted from the world of politics and government to the world of the corporate office. Till as late as the 1980s, government employment was highly sought by the educated middle class across Southasia, as it offered the opportunity for a better standard of living, combined with social prestige and the power of influence. The civil-services examination was thus the crucial gateway to a better life. Today, the MBA entrance tests have replaced the IAS exams, and to be sure corporate careers have transformed lives in ways similar to the government jobs of old.