Taxi driver economics

By Karishma Vaswani
Mumbai business correspondent, BBC News

Travellers arriving in Singapore's Changi Airport are greeted by the cool breeze of air conditioning.

Do Changi's gleaming surfaces disguise dissatisfaction?

It was the country's former leader, Lee Kwan Yew, who once said that the air conditioner was the biggest factor that had pulled Asia's economies out of the Dark Ages.

Without it, he said, it was too hot in sweltering Singapore to get any work done.

And the work that has been done to turn this once swampy marshland into a glittering, gleaming metropolis is stunning.

Barely 40 years after Singapore's independence, its citizens are now the richest in Asia.

Times change...

But ask them whether they're feeling that wealthy - and you get a completely different picture.

"Richest in Asia? Tell my wife and four kids that," scoffed my Singaporean taxi driver.

"Do you know how much petrol prices have gone up these days? And Singapore is not a cheap place to live. I barely make ends meet."

That puzzled me. Singapore is famous for providing its citizens with what could be one of the world's most comprehensive savings schemes, with the government taking a portion out of your salary each month and putting away for you.

When you reach retirement, you're allowed to withdraw some of that money on a monthly basis, until you die. That way the government ensures that you're not a burden on your family - or on the state.

But competition for jobs from fast-growing economies like China and India means wages at the bottom of the economic ladder in Singapore have dropped - at a time when the cost of living has soared.

On paper, the Singaporean is richer than all his Asian neighbours - but he certainly isn't feeling that wealth in his pocket.

Fading tiger?

Indonesians are also feeling that perhaps their economy's best days are behind it.

Democracy has hurt our stomachs Indonesian taxi driver

The country was once the star performer among Asia's so-called "tiger economies".

Arriving at Jakarta's airport, I recalled what it looked like in the 1990s, before the Asian financial crisis of 1997: glossy, busy and full of foreign businessmen waiting to land the next big deal.

Again, it was the taxi driver who told me what had changed.

"There used to be a time when Americans, Englishmen, even Germans would come sit in this taxi," he said as he revved up his dilapidated vehicle.

"But now I keep reading in the papers that they have all gone to India and China. Indonesia used to be powerful, when (former dictator) Suharto was still in power. I wish he still was here.

"Democracy has hurt our stomachs."

Indonesians were used to seeing their growth rates soar every year. Now, the only number that rises is the poverty figure.

Mumbai dreams

And it is poverty which first strikes the foreign visitor's eye when landing in Mumbai, India's financial capital.

Taxis - transport or economic barometer?

On either side of the airport's runway sit miles and miles of slums and shanty homes.

Two thirds of Mumbai's population live in slums. The city is home to Asia's largest slum, Dharavi.

But Mumbai is also home to India's biggest business groups - and is a symbol of the country's economic boom.

Returning home, my Mumbai taxi driver told me what he thought his economic future might look like.

"I just want to make money," said Aslam, my 20-something Mumbai taxi driver.

"I want to make it big - like the Ambanis, or the Tatas. And here's the place to do it: Bombay, the city where all your dreams come true."

Aslam's optimism is being echoed around the country, as it wakes up to the realisation that India is on the verge of an economic revolution.

But it remains to be seen whether in a few years' time Aslam's confidence will be justified - of whether may instead be sounding like his counterparts in Indonesia and Singapore.