India fever is spreading in the world's investment community. The Western press rarely mentions that certified growth miracle, that leviathan of global trade—China—without adding "and India." In an admittedly unscientific test, a Google search reveals over 10 times more references linking "India" and "China" than "India" and "tiger" and 100 times more than "India" and "maharaja." But amid all the hoopla, it is well worth asking whether India is really ready to play a central role in the global economy. Instead of going through the familiar litany of strengths and weaknesses, it would be useful to pose the question in a different way: does India have the mind-set it needs to be a player in a globally integrated economy?

Mind-set is a difficult concept, and even more so when we speak of a nation's mind-set. But it does seem that there are times when a nation feels confident that it can take on the world, meet any challenge, and achieve any dream. If properly channeled, this spirit can be an enormous aid to growth. In fact, some sociologists argue that such a spirit, a national atma vishwas,¹ so to speak, has been critical to the kind of explosive...