India's unhealthy love for second-hand self-esteem

The flutter of interest and comment over Anshu Jain's (seen here) candidacy for the top job at Deutsche Bank highlighted just how much India Inc loves to applaud every time any businessman or executive of Indian origin makes it to the top in the developed world.

The fortunes of Lakshmi Mittal, baron of the world's largest steel empire, Arun Sarin, who headed Vodafone from 2003 to 2008, Citigroup's Vikram Pandit and PepsiCo's Indra Nooyi, to name a prominent few, are closely covered by the Indian media and celebrated on muscularly patriotic websites such as iloveindia.com.

Last year, Warren Buffett's praise of Ajit Jain at Berkshire Hathaway found front page mention and triggered considerable speculation about his possible succession to the Oracle of Omaha.

For the most part, this is a harmless, even touching pastime.

In the midst of the rack and ruin of our urban environments and the very public embarrassment in the run up to the Commonwealth Games, such warm, fuzzy nationalism allows us to wallow in reflected pride and in the notion that, despite the odds, Indians can succeed in the tough, competitive world of global business where it is suspected that prejudices override objectivity.

But is this vicarious self-esteem justified?

Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

Text: Kanika Datta, Business Standard