India's Biggest Exports: Brains & Talent

From the exclusive Club Lounge on the 19th floor of Singaporeâ??s Mandarin Oriental, Anish Lalvani gazes out at the cityâ??s skyline, a dazzling array of glass and steel and vertical ambition. The Lalvani family has come a long way since the days when Anishâ??s paternal grandfather, Tirath Singh Lalvani, got his start in business by retailing medicines to King George VIâ??s soldiers in Karachi. Back then the city was a part of British colonial Indiaâ??until independence arrived in 1947, and its inhabitants suddenly found themselves amid the bloody turmoil of the newborn Pakistan. The Lalvanis, like millions of others on both sides of the border, fled for their lives. But instead of making new homes in present-day India, the Lalvanis sought their fortunes abroad. Today the familyâ??s Hong Kongâ??based Binatone Group employs some 400 people on four continents. â??We couldnâ??t break the old boysâ?? network,â? says Anish. â??But overseas we created our own.â?