The markets are booming, the opportunities are soaring, the red tape is loosening its grip. It's a fantastic time to be young and in India - say some of the country's top professionals.

"What is different today is that one word: confidence," says Vikram Chandra, a leading anchor at NDTV.

"The youth today are more confident than ever before," Chandra said at a session on Shaping Young Minds: Youth As Change Agents at the Confederation of Indian Industry's national conference at the Taj Palace Hotel here Tuesday.

For the first time, people under 35 make up more than 65 percent of the population and they are finding a greater voice than ever before in the burgeoning Indian economy.

"It's about a global perspective," felt actor Rahul Bose. "The young today believe that geography doesn't matter, they are in a world which is connected like never before and they don't have to be in the West to succeed.

"Their voices are equally relevant from home."

The panel, which also included fashion designer Ritu Beri and the vice-president of student body AISEC's India branch, Niharika Pande, said more and more young people are choosing not to settle abroad and are staying back to make a difference in their society.

"We are aching today," said Pande, 21. "Aching to be given opportunities to prove ourselves, aching to really build a new world. I believe that a new world is not about childish idealism, I really believe in that. I believe we can do these things.

"Today, my India gives me icons like a Ratan Tata and Narayana Murthy, my ideal today is not Bill Gates and that's what corporate India gives me today - the opportunity to have our own icons."

That's why, the panelists said, with a bit of good governance, this century could well be not only the Chinese century but also the Indian century. "I frankly hate it when people compare China and India," said Beri.

"I believe that in so many ways we are much better than China. And we are ready to soar in all the ways where we lag behind."

India's booming population would be the focal point of its success in this millennium, said the panellists, and with its massive manpower and ability to work around things would make Indians the best.

"Indians have that great sense of working in situations where there is no concrete answer to a problem. That's where the fertile Indian mind starts to work," said Chandra. "We thrive in chaos and in many ways that makes us world leaders.

"In Hindi, we call it 'jugaad'. That's the secret of our success."

--Indo-Asian News Service