It took one minute to sell all $3-billion-worth of shares to the public in India’s biggest share floatation.
The buying frenzy of stock in Reliance Power will almost certainly see Anil Ambani (48) overtake his older brother Mukesh to become the country’s richest man with a fortune of more than $60-billion when the shares debut on the Mumbai stock exchange later this month.
What is remarkable is that Indians have been buying into a company that has little more than a famous name, Reliance, and big ambitions.
The soaring stock market is a symptom of India’s overflowing optimism. Little wonder that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who arrives in the country on Saturday night, has decided to make India the second stop on his Asian tour. Brown will be accompanied by a big trade delegation attracted by a burgeoning middle class in the nation of 1,1-billion people.
They are not alone in vying to cash in on India’s wealth — Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President, will visit next week.
India is experiencing a rapid and sustained rise in living standards for the first time in centuries. The economy is poised to expand by 9%, a rate second only to China. Every day the newspapers produce a diet of good news obscuring the poverty. Tata, India’s industrial powerhouse, produces the world’s cheapest car, and will soon own the exclusive marques of Jaguar and Land Rover.
In sport, billionaire telecom magnate Sunil Mittal has set aside £25-million to send India’s football team to the World Cup in 2018. Another billionaire, liquor baron Vijay Mallaya, has spent £100-million buying a Formula One team and aims to build a racetrack in Mumbai by 2010.
In the same way as commentators refer to the 1900s as the ”American century”, the 21st century is forecast to be Asian. If the scale and speed of growth can be maintained on both sides of the Himalayas, by 2050 Beijing and Delhi will be the capitals of the world’s two richest nations.
Some commentators say India will soon eclipse its larger northern neighbour. Surjit Bhalla, an economist, says its poorer, younger and larger workforce means India will catch up with China by 2010.
”There are no growth miracles here,” said Bhalla, author of the book Second among Equals: the Rise of the Middle Class Kingdoms. ”What we are seeing is the creation of a new middle class in these two countries that is driving growth globally. By middle class I mean people with $8 a day to spend in disposable income. Which means foreign companies can sell them watches, cars, computers.”
The surge in demand for consumer goods has tripled cellphone use in two years. The Indian car market is forecast to become the fastest-growing in the world. The country’s myriad social problems — illiteracy, hunger, caste violence and penury — still exist, but policymakers now believe they can be overcome. — Â