Globalization and Public Relations in Postcolonial Nations: Chal ...

India established a strong state-controlled licensing system to keep foreign investment—and colonizing influences—out. Not until the 1980s did India remove some of these restrictions, although it still does not allow 100% foreign direct investment in multibrand retail shops, such as Wal-Mart, in an effort to protect the small, family-run stores that historically have filled this niche.

Ironically, it is this historical combination of colonization and efforts to block neocolonization that has helped make India a software and new-technology leader today. These new industries were not subject to the old “licensing Raj” system and therefore could take off quickly and without too many bureaucratic restraints. They could be delivered through telecommunications and were not dependent on Indian’s aging, inadequate infrastructure for shipping; moreover, English was already the lingua franca of business in India, thanks to the British.

These same factors have made India the “back office” for many countries. Call centers, credit card processing, insurance claim centers, airline customer service, and help desks are also fueling India’s current economic growth—a phenomenon known as business process outsourcing. Time shifting is one benefit. Another is cost. U.S. doctors can record their notes and send the digital files to India at the end of the workday. Medical transcriptionists in India process them and return them, ready for the doctors’ review, the next morning. The transcriptionists in India charge only a tenth to a third what those in the United States charge, but they earn twice what they would in other available employment options (Sachs, 2005).

In the BRICS economies, public relations practice is acquiring a more Westernized flavor, driven in large part by foreign direct investment. India’s rapid economic expansion is matched by a similarly paced increase in the demand for public relations services. The Indian public relations industry is expected to double in size within a year. An influx of multinational firms has brought expectations of more strategic counseling services, although India’s traditional, mostly family-run, media relations practices remain in demand because of India’s well-regarded news media