Often, when I look at the Indian IT industry, I am forcibly reminded of a similar industrial situation a couple of centuries ago. It is one that every Indian school going kid of a certain age is familiar with: India, which had been famed for its high-count, fine-quality cotton since the centuries before the Common Era, was reduced to supplying raw material to the powers-that-were. We lost out on our markets by bring forced to provide low-value raw material and products. Sure, it was probably easier to do, for the producer, at an individual level but the opportunity costs were tremendous. India as a brand, became associated with low-value, low-grade products and was seen as a source of basic raw materials rather than high-end finished products. We had the capability but we were not being able to utilize it.

(more…)

While there are plenty of indications that the techno power is likely to shift from the West to the East, the weathercock has yet to crow in the winds of change. Both India and China have yet to charter a long way between the cup and the lip. Yes, the economic fundamentals of both nations, with their enormous populations of young workers and consumers, do point to strong growth for decades under almost every forecast. But financial crashes, coups, political strife, and mismanagement have doomed many other miracle economies from Southeast Asia to Latin America. As I’ve mentioned before, the same large populations that today are counted on as a demographic advantage in both countries could prove to be a double-edged sword if social, political, and environmental challenges are not deftly managed.

(more…)

Any one visited Shanghai, recently? When I did, I felt caught in a time warp – was I stepping into a place that was already in the future or was I so far, living way back in the past? The question is rhetorical, though the possibilities it throws up are at the very least, interesting. Look up Shanghai’s Urban Planning Exhibition Hall and you’ll see what I mean. This glass-and-metal structure across from People’s Square houses a scale model, larger than a basketball court, of the entire metropolis as of 2020. Every skyscraper, house, lane, factory, dock, and patch of green space is mapped to perfection. The city is already thinking of nine futuristic planned communities for 800,000 residents each, with generous parks, retail districts, man-made lakes and nearby college campuses.

(more…)

While ‘Made in China’ is a label that no longer surprises, eyes are opening wide to the ‘indi-chini bhai bhai’ mutual admiration society. This camaraderie has bided its time in developing, but given India’s economic performance in the last few years, the Chinese hare has had to see the merit in the slow but steady Indian tortoise. The emergence of a world-class Indian software outsourcing industry has been the most important factor in transforming mindsets. More than 25,000 Chinese software students have already passed through the doors of NIIT, India’s largest software training company, which has 106 “education centres” in China. 90 Indian companies have offices in China and are spread across sectors ranging from pharmaceutical production to automotive components. Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services, two of India’s largest software companies, have technology and development centres in Shanghai and other Chinese cities.

(more…)

“A New Dance”? is what he interestingly calls the budding relationship between China & India – a dance where one and then the other leads, straining to listen to the changing music.

In times when every one is speculating about the two most significant players from the East, and the impact on the world of their probable future, individually or collectively, my friend Tarun Khanna has penned down his own analysis in the book titled “Billions of Entrepreneurs: How China and India Are Reshaping Their Future and Yours”?.

(more…)