India shining part 2

I visited India after a long gap of 4 years. My friends have been telling me that India has changed in a big way and it will be a shock to my system to see the change. To some extent it was but the "awe" factor was missing.

Here are few observations I made during my trip.

1. There are more business channels now which are constantly broadcasting buying or selling recommendations. Average housewife or pensionnaires are watching these channel more than the entertainment channels.
2. People are investing all their lifetime saving in stock markets these days. Some even go to the extent to pick up personal loan to invest in shares.
3. Not many do any kind of research before buying shares. They buy shares because they are going up or it was recommended by a broker. According to them share market heads only in one direction. I hope the bloodbath of 21st Jan 2008 on BSE was an eye opener to many.
4. There are stock brokers with personal portfolio management service almost on every street. Portfolio managers as young as 22 years are managing potfolio woth millions of rupees. They say they get "tips" from big brokers everyday morning and they buy or sell based on that.
5. Banks are getting more demat application forms compared to saving account. People are opening Demat account even in the name of 1 year old babies. Because of the number of applications, it took me 2 months to get a DEMAT account.
6. Reliance is a household name now.
7. House prices have gone through the roof. In Mumbai, apartments are 4 times expenive in last 4 years and are still going up.
8. Even street cleaners carry mobile phone these days. It is cheaper to use mobile compared to land lines. There are more mobile services available in India compared to UK.
9. Supermarkets are a hit among middle and upper middle class. People who bargain for 1 Rupee with the street vendor, pay twice the price in these shop without uttering a single word. These supermarkets have created lots of jobs for youngters but it is killing local business. I believe this is what happened in Western countries in last decade.
10. Gap between rich and poor is getting wider.
11. I have never seen construction of new buildings at such a big scale. Builders are not leaving a single inch of the land. Also they are selling properties in terms of "super built up area". Google this term to understand what it means.

Overall it is good India is growing very fast but at a price which the people of India will realise in due course of time. Still there are many basic problems need to be resolved.