Case Study 1: Indias Demographic Dividend

India is expected to grow at a sustained high rate for the coming decades being second only to China. One of the major contributors to the same is expected to be the young working population of the country. The working population (15-59 years) of India today largely, approximately 57%, consists of the youth (15-34 years). According to official data, India's labour force, which was 472 million in 2006, was around 526 million in 2011 and is expected to be around 653 million in 2031. In just about 3 years, 25% of the worlds working population will be Indian. Human beings tend to have a higher proportion of consumption in their childhood days, whereas, they save the most in their working years. Thus, the dependency ratio has gone down with the rise in the average savings rate. The saving rate of India has been on an increase since 2003 and currently stands at 33% of the GDP of the nation. The greater savings are expected to fuel higher investment rates contributing to growth of the nation. While the above is the supply side of the story, there are contributions from the demand side as well. The shift in demographics with rise in youth in the nation, there has been a steady rise in disposable income in the hands of individuals. This has led to a change in lifestyle of the individuals leading to growth in demand for consumption of goods to meet more than the basic needs of the individuals. In order to cater to this demand, there has been a drastic rise in consumerism in the country. Today domestic as well as international companies are all flocking to meet the Indian consumers demands and thus, contributing to growth of industries and the nation.
Case Study 3: Power Grid crash in India

The investment opportunities in the Indian power sector are immense. The power ministry has set a target for adding 76,000 MW of electricity capacity in the 12th Plan (2012-17) and 93,000 MW in the 13th Five-Year Plan (2017-2022). As per the funding requirement of the 12th five year plan, a capital requirement of Rs. 13, 72, 580 crores is estimated to arise. The main sources of financing are commercial banks, public financial institutions, dedicated infrastructure/power finance institutions, insurance companies, overseas markets, bilateral/multilateral credit, bond markets and equity markets. The power sector was one of the first sectors to be opened up to private investment in the 1990s. Today it is the sixth largest attracter of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) with upto 100 per cent FDI being allowed under automatic routes for projects of electricity generation, transmission, distribution and power trading. Along with this there are several government initiated policies to promote and garner investments in the power sector. For eg. The National Electricity Policy which aims at power for all and annual per capita consumption of electricity to rise by end of 2012. However, even today the country is faced with major challenges in the form of a persistent demand supply gap of approximately 9% and culmination of the same has come in the form of two massive power grid failures in the month of July. India suffered from the biggest power outage in the world affecting 22 states and 620 million people. Unfortunately this came after an

impressive performance by the power sector with addition of almost 17000 megawatts of capacity in 2011-12. However, it is not that the there is low generation leading to the lack of supply of power. It is estimated that 40000 mw of installed capacity is lying unutilized. 10000 mw is for maintenance and technical reasons while remaining is due to the gas and coal fueled generation resources being utilized at suboptimal levels. India today is unable to produce enough coal domestically and high costs of import. The high costs of the fuels have not been passed onto the masses while the power companies are also trying to deal with the escalating costs. State utilities are also faced with bankruptcy and have debts of over Rs. 100000 crores.