ASEAN and India: A Mutually Strengthening Paradigm/Vision

India is an awakened power in Asia. Thanks to its British heritage, now, it is a great knowledge-power. It has the third largest volume of technically trained manpower in the world. India produces 2.5 million graduates and diploma holders every year through its more than 300 universities and 15,000 colleges. Among these are the IIT's and IIM's, which produce the world class technocrats, scientists and managers. With a literate population of 500 million to back up the millions of technically trained graduates, the country is poised for a tremendous technological growth, particularly in Information Technology and Bio-technology.

With the launching of new economic policy in 1991, the processes of liberalization, privatization and globalization (LPG) have not only taken deep roots in the country but also contributed to the tremendous growth of the economy in the past 15 years. Controls were eliminated, regulations were minimized, and license permit raj has been dismantled!