by Manuel Herranz

The last decade has been great for India. Not only its economy has grown, but we can already see Indian heads at most big companies in the US and other countries, as CEO’s or key personnel. This is not surprising: when we look at the recent developments in India’s economy we find out that it is currently growing faster than the economy of China. Traditionally, India’s economy has been more open and less protective. It has always been easier to do business in India, with less red tape than China. It is a huge achievement for a country which is now entering a second phase: Indian companies will begin to take positions in the world and export services directly from India making use of their excellent English skills.

This is a key difference when looking at other BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, China) which have other national languages. Brazil and Russia have suffered stagnation for more than one year as a result of a stop to their internationalization efforts and weaking home market or, in the case of Russia, lack of diversification. Most developing countries have had a hard time keeping up with the US dollar, even the Euro. But that has not been the case with Indian Rupee – a currency that has been getting better against the US dollar recently.

Lower oil prices have also been a godsend for the Indian economy. India has built water dams to make full use of stored water. It is now taking care of the floods tha thave affected the country so badly through history. India has a lot of gold reserves to keep its currency and economy stable in hard times. In a very Indian suave, and peaceful way, the stars are aligning for India to have a strong presence in the online, digital economy as well. If it can influence the online world, it can win a psychological battle whilst China begins to struggle with the concept of not being the factory of the world any longer. However, when one speaks to Indian businesses and companies (many of them bilingual or trilingual people), one realizes soon that India needs more translation into European languages to keep up its economic weight.

No business, company, national or regional economy can try to be a truly global entity today if it does not have a strong online presence. Whilst using English is a first bridge is a very good approach for corporate websites and general information, the Indian economy is now connecting with people all over the world on a daily basis and this is when more professional translation into European languages is needed. India has strong presence in Europe via historic links with Britain, the Netherlands and Portugal to a smaller extent. It used to be only Indian people emmigrating to European countries to make a living, but the digital economy has changed in the recent years. European and American companies are now really interested in hiring Indian individuals for big jobs.

Whether Indian businesses want to have a connection with corporate entities in these countries or approach potential buyers and end users, they need learn and behave like their Western counterparts and use translation services as a marketing and sales tool. Investment into translation into European languages will produce fruits as they tap into markets with a high purchasing power. Although largely spoken as a common tongue, English is not the native language of India and so most of the content in the country is not made in English. Nowadays, India needs to translate its content in English and other languages that are spoken around the world in order to be recognized as a growing economy. Of course, businesses can’t do this on their own.

Good times are ahead for the Indian translation industry and those tapping into India as a future investment. Indian businesses will have to use professional translation services and fortunately, these services are not far from them. The online world is full of companies and agencies offering professional language translation. Western companies have a large amount of experience in using languages as a tool in sales, Multilingual SEO and marketing. Profitting from the experience of European translation companies, human translators and properly-used machine translation technology, Indian companies will soon providing services beyond the English-speaking universe. China has concentrated a lot in manufacturing and labour over the lat 40 years. It has created hubs of excellence but raising costs of living and higher costs are beginning to create tensions in their economy. India is poised to use its deep knowledge of a digital economy, its approach to business and life, its good knowledge of English and better connection to the West, as well as translation into European languages to its full advantage very soon.