大象传媒

In the week that President Obama visits India to strengthen ties that he hopes will help improve America's economy, there's another chance to discover why, despite being home to the highest number of illiterate people in the world, India produces so many numerate and ambitious graduates that are highly sought after by global companies. This confident and outward-looking Indian elite can now be found in countless top executive roles in multinational corporations (eg PepsiCo, Kraft, Google, Citigroup, Chevron, Deutschebank) and as global entrepreneurs. But what makes them so uniquely successful?

Many people point to the phenomenal success of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) which select the brightest and the best of India's students through intense competition and launch them into the international arena. At the IIT Kanpur campus Mukti Jain Campion watches the multinational company recruitment of last year's graduates. In Chicago she attends the annual global conference of the Indian Institutes of Technology alumni and hears of their wide-ranging achievements. How do they see their Indian-ness contributing to that success? And what lessons can they offer for Brits and Americans trying to maintain their previous pre-eminence in the global marketplace?

Originally broadcasted in March 2010.

Presented and Produced by Mukti Jain Campion
A Culture Wise production for 大象传媒 Radio 4.