An Encouraging Portrait Of India

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: Do most Indians like free markets over government controls, welcome multinationals and view the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and globalisation in general with favour? Many political leaders and much of India’s intelligentsia may answer “No”. Fortunately, they are wrong.

According to an exhaustive survey released recently by the Pew Research Centre for the People and the Press, which covered more than 40 countries, including 2,189 Indians, “globalisation” is a bigger concern for intellectuals, politicians and social activists than for ordinary people, who are more relaxed about its impact.

The results show strong support for free markets in India, with a large majority saying that they agreed completely or mostly that most people are better off in a free market economy, even though some people are rich and some are poor. 67% of Indians agree that greater global connections are good for their own family. More than two-thirds say that greater availability of foreign products is a positive development (only 14% are opposed). India imposes higher trade barriers than most countries, despite such strong public support for more trade and access to foreign products (and a record level of foreign echange reserves).

The results show that nearly eight times as many Indians believe that globalisation is good, compared with those who disagree. More Chinese (76% versus 9%) than Indians feel that foreign companies have a good influence on their country. Although 48% of Indians feel that there are fewer good-paying jobs today compared with five years ago (and 41% disagree), only a quartere of those people blame globalisation for the loss.

It appears that ordinary people rightly perceive that India’s economic problems are not caused by opening up to the outside world. Of those who feel there are more good-paying jobs today, more than half attribute this to globalisation. 71% of Indians think that the gap betwen rich and poor has worsened in the last five years but less than a third of those people blamed it on globalisation.

Support for free markets does not translate into support for mass lay-offs. Nearly 80% oppose closing a large, inefficient factory because of the hardship it would cause. Interestingly, 67% of people in supposedly communist China support closing such a factory. The different attitudes may reflect the greater avilability of basic social welfare and alternative jobs in China.