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Politics, entertainment and business have been making headlines lately. While there is news coming from politics as our Prime Minister made another visit to the US, Amitabh Bachchan, Rajnikanth, Sunny Deol and Tom Cruise are the talk of the entertainment industry. And in the business world, Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger are enjoying their respective share of the limelight.
It is interesting to see that each story teaches an enduring lesson. It is even more interesting to learn that they have a common thread with India’s growth story.
The six celebrated stories and enduring lessons
#1 Honourable Prime Minister, Narendra Modi (aged 73) - His recent visit to the US showcased India’s growing importance and its ties with the US. Also, meeting leading entrepreneurs appears to be a catalyst for US companies intending to invest in India. Known to be energetic and workaholic, our Prime Minister sees India as the third largest economy over the next five years.
Lesson: Determination and well-set targets give direction and make goals achievable.
#2 Amitabh Bachchan (aged 80) - After facing a mid-life financial crisis and bankruptcy, Amitabh made a striking comeback with ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’. As one of the most successful actors, he enjoys a sizeable fan base and is hosting the 15th edition of the popular show.
Lesson: Miracles happen. Stay strong and continue to put your best foot forward.
#3 Rajnikanth (aged 72) - The superstar recently delivered another hit - Jailer. His loving and simple personality along with a strong delivery makes him a favourite among many. He gives his audience what they desire and has earned the respect and love of a demi-God.
Lesson: Know what your stakeholders seek and deliver with all sincerity.
#4 Sunny Deol (aged 66) - After being semi-retired for over a decade, he delivered a massive hit through Gadar 2 where he played the role of Tara Singh. Remarkably, the first show is scheduled at 6 in the morning in some cities. His casting as an action hero and success is at an age that was earlier unimaginable by many.
Lesson: Perseverance and goodwill earned eventually pay.
#5 Tom Cruise (aged 61): He has been the flag bearer of the Mission Impossible franchise for 27 long years where he plays the role of Ethan Hunt. Known to do his own stunts, he reportedly trained over the years and performed 500 skydives and more than 13,000 motocross jumps to get the perfect shot.
Lesson: Hard work, determination and commitment can overcome any obstacle easily.
#6 Warren Buffet (aged 92) and Charlie Munger (aged 99) - These renowned businessmen, investors and philanthropists have made Berkshire Hathaway (a multinational conglomerate) a popular name. Investors and many others celebrate their magnetic, energetic and enthusiastic personas.
Lesson: Being successful in life is not doing too many extraordinary things but doing things consistently well.
The India Story
Each story mentioned above demonstrates that age is just a number and success knows no bounds. There is one more such story that demonstrates how constant efforts speed up the pace of progress. This is the India story.
Let’s look at the below chart.
As we see, what took 60 years to build one trillion dollars of GDP, India accomplished it in the next 8 years. This only got better as the next trillion dollars were added in the following 6 years. In fact, it is believed that India has the potential to achieve in the next 7-8 years all that it achieved in the past 76 years of independence.
Just like Tom’s character Ethan, the country and its people are working hard to keep on excelling. And similar to Sunny’s character Tara, India believes in love and peace and will not fear going all out to protect its people. Further, it also bounced back from a near to bankruptcy situation in 1991 just like Amitabh Bachchan did.
To conclude, with dynamic leadership and stable growth-oriented policies, India’s future looks visibly bright. Also, the 4 Ds - Democracy, Demographics, Digital dividend and Domestic economy should support the country in its quest to transform into a “developed” economy by 2047 i.e. the 100th year of independence.
Thus the solid belief - India is a nation whose time has come!
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Sunil Singhania is the founder of Abakkus Asset Manager. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the views of Cafemutual.