How India's poor saved the country from recession

As demand for good and services plummeted in the US, global exports got impacted and the world rapidly spiraled into recession. The Indian economy was jolted too but the social sector schemes aimed to provide employment to the poor suddenly appeared from nowhere to keep consumption and demand for everyday goods and services up. The poor continued to buy his daily quota of bread, oil, lentils and other consumer goods. Naturally the factories kept producing and profits continue to come.

This brings to us a new form of development growth model where the need of the poor nourished the welfare of the rich and the industrialized. I had never looked at social development from that angle.

To business this gives another opportunity to support social development not for the sake of charity but because this makes good business sense and is good for the shareholder. This calls for a re-alignment of corporate business strategy, focusing on this new market segment and taking advantage of it.