The love-hate relations – more hate than love — that exists between the Baniya community in India and the rest is well known. Typically traits that are not so pleasing such as shrewdness, money mindedness are often associated with the community. But interestingly, the 57 year-old Kim Moon-young, Managing Director, South Asia HQ, Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) is fascinated by the contribution of the Baniya community in driving growth.
In his recent book written in Korean, Kim has brought out the contribution of this community in shaping India’s economy. The Baniya community oulining a large part of India Inc boasts of some of the most famous business personalities such as Lakshmi Mittal, Sunil Bharti Mittal, Naresh Goyal, Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani and Dilip Shanghvi among others. Much as India would like to hate them, these captains of the industry have not only contributed handsomely to the Indian economy but have made a name for themselves even outside the country.
In fact Prime Minister Narendra Modi too emphasised that India must take note of the contribution of the private sector in creating wealth and jobs.
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The Indian Baniya groups are and will remain dominant not only in traditional sectors but also in the new generation industries like IT-enabled e-commerce platforms and other services, Kim in his book ‘An outcome of 3000 years of Karma legacy – an Indian Baniya Story,’ said, according to Asian Community News (ACN), a platform that works with the Southeast Asian community in the country. ACN will now also publish the book in English. The book may be published in other Indian languages too.
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The senior Korean executive has credited the Indian Baniya community and their 3000 years of Karma legacy for making India the potential world superpower, it said.
“The Indian Baniya community not only drove the economic prowess of India for over 3000 years, but they also continue to do it today, and will contribute in making India a world’s economic superpower in times to come as well," ACN quoted Kim as saying. He added that the Baniya community forms the part of the world's top merchant groups that include the Jews and Chinese, who own a major chunk of business activity across the world.
Sanjeev K Ahuja, promoter of ACN told India Narrative that Kim’s book is based on his personal experiences in India.
“He has studied the Indian community in its totality— not just the broader social and economic fabric but also the finer details of the Indian community, which itself presents a widely diverse and dynamic picture,” Ahuja said.
The book has three primary segments. While the first one deals with the Baniya community, the second one is on the Indian economy and the third is about the India-South Korea commerce and trade relationship.
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“I have tried to approach with a third party view with my affection for India and its people. Because there has been a distortion of facts about India in the Korean media and many people in Korea think that India is a very mysterious country. It’s a country of yoga, music, caste systems, curry, and the recent Indian Corona-19 Pandemic” Kim said.
