Try to describe India. What could you not say? What could you say that wouldn’t be right or wrong? No matter what, it is impossible not to be astonished by the place.

 

 
Nowhere else on our planet is human life presented in quite so many of its various guises. It is a gigantic land bursting with legions of cultures and religions, races and tongues. Every aspect of the country presents itself on a massive, bold scale, from industry to spirituality; Bollywood to tourism; the jungles to the mountains. Everything in India is larger than life.

 

India, with its colossal 2000 mile long triangular peninsula, is the world’s seventh largest country.  It is surrounded on three sides by open sea; the Bay of Bengal to the east, the Arabian Sea to the west, and the Indian Ocean to the south.  To the north east, the country is separated from the rest of the Asian continent by the Himalayas. India has a population of 1.2 billion people, making it the world’s second most crowded country, its longest river is the Indus, it shares borders with six countries; Pakistan, Bhutan, China, Nepal, Bangladesh and Burma and it has the world’s third largest standing army.  Four of the world’s most popular faiths originated in India: Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism. Zoroastrianism (Parsi), Christianity and Islam have also helped shape the region’s diversity over the last millennium. On top of this, there are 14 official languages across the nation.

                                                    

India is on the move

From the days of the Raj, Gandhi’s non-violent crusade for independence and the partition years, India has come a long way and it continues to surprise and innovate on a global scale at very turn. Currently, it is the ninth largest economy in the world. This has gradually grown since they opened their economy up to the world in 1991 after decades of protectionism.

 

Modern industries include: textiles, jewellery, cars, oil products, chemicals, food processing, IT, electronics and call-centres.  The economic implication of cornering a number of markets has continued to put India in the lead in a number of growing sectors. 50% of the country’s land mass is covered by farmland with crops including rice, wheat, cotton, tea, sugarcane and jute. In other areas, engineering and IT sectors are showing the largest signs of growth.

 

Tourism is also another one of India’s major growth industries.  And with improved standards in education, the upwardly mobile are able to transfer their skills abroad giving some fluidity to the job market.  Despite the upward trends in some areas, one of India’s ongoing challenges is reducing poverty, malnutrition and unemployment - up to 25% of the populous live below the poverty line. The old world rubs shoulders with tomorrow’s everywhere you look in the cities and to go beyond city limits is like stepping back in time.

 

Slums are being cleared away to make way for the new India. Cities like Mumbai and New Delhi evoke visions of sci-fi films with their new realms made up of silver skyscrapers, built for the upwardly-mobile and moneyed young things of today. After experiencing something of an economic boom over the last few years, India’s growth is showing signs of slowing, but there are few signs of the industry running out of ideas or markets to corner; particular in IT. Yet at the time of writing, whilst growth has stagnated in the west, India’s has still increased by 5% over the last 12 months.

 

The increased ‘westernisation’ of India has seen many ex-pats sign up to become ‘Oversea Citizens of India’. Alongside these, a significant number of second and third generation European and US born Indians are moving back too.  This recent wave of activity has become known as ‘reverse migration’.  There is an opinion that there is now money to be made back in ‘Mother India.’  These valid claims are enticing a growing number of domestic citizens into the cities as well - many of whom come to India’s cities with dreams of become entrepreneurs in one of the country’s flourishing markets.

 

With a future so unpredictable yet exciting, a history so rich and bewitching, a bio-diversity to boggle the world’s biggest brains and an eco-system to dizzy sciences greats, there really is no place on Earth quite like India. And it will be this way forever.

 

Road Kings of the Indian Sub-Continent

A company profile of The Star Group Worldwide by Aulina Mithal

Since the late 1950s, The Star Worldwide Group has been India’s foremost family owned moving company. Founded by Jagdish Mithal, after a long career in the freight forwarding industry, he decided to set up a customer focussed removals firm for the Indian public and beyond.

60 years on and Jagdish Mithal’s grandchildren are spearheading the business.  The Star Worldwide Group now offers international and domestic moves, global mobility services, fine art handling and transport, and records management services. Its offices in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad are soon to be joined by several new branches opening in other Indian cities.

Star Worldwide Group is the only moving company in India to have qualified for the FAIMPlus, ISO9001, ISO14001 and OHSAS 18001 Certifications. Also, the current Group President - Al Mithal - famously served on the FIDI Board and was FIDI President from 2008 to 2010.  

Each of The Star Worldwide Group’s branches has excellent storage facilities, a fleet of GPS equipped trucks and a professionally trained team of over 200 employees across the group. It has also recently added a number of specially designed temperature controlled trucks to its fleet specifically for transporting fine art works. These elements have enabled the company to supply a consistent high quality of mobility and logistical services. The family owners of the group aim to grow Star Worldwide three-fold within the next five years.

The Star Worldwide Group’s infrastructure is supported by the move management system REDSKY.  It enables its operatives to seamlessly connect with its customers, Unigroup and other partners around the world, ensuring up-to-the-minute tracking and updated exchange of documents and status information. All these values ensure that the group maintains its respected position in the moving industry.

India’s economy is steadily growing stronger and The Star Worldwide Group intend to stay in step with this upward swing, leading the way as one of India’s leading global moving specialists.

Photo (Above): The Star Group Worldwide

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