I think any macro statement of the form of India’s growth potential is 10x because China’s at 10x us deserves a take down of the form you’ve put here Mahesh. In fact I’d be more brutal — there’s simply no reason for India to ape China in growth when we have not been able to demonstrate a similar kind of scale in nearly anything else (exception: IT services) like steel, manufacturing, road building, farm yields, financing or durables. This is not going to eventually “happen” just because we are a certain size, because in many of these areas, countries of smaller sizes — like Korea or Philippines — have beaten us hollow.

But yes, India needs specific solutions that seem to not get addressed. Like LPG/CNG based fridges and air conditioners. They are way more efficient than electricity, and have no “outage” problems and yet, we don’t seem to make or market them. Guess who does: Alibaba. This stuff can be used to transport medicines, food produce as well as a transport solution. And at houses in rural settings where last mile connectivity for electricity is suspect/expensive. Not that this is a hugely innovative solution but it’s something that works for India but is not quite as sexy, and there’s no reason it won’t work for a good part of the developing world either.

Yes, the google of India will be Google, and the Myspace of India will be Orkut, but there is the thing that Raghuram Rajan said when he was asked if he would be India’s Volcker — My name is Raghuram Rajan, and I do what I do. I just wish we all did what we did, and not a desi version of what someone else did.