Indian or Chinese - What’s going to be the flavor of the future?

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.

Likewise, Chinese manufacturers are starting to target India's growing purchasing power. Shenzhen-based Huawei Technologies, the telecommunications equipment maker, is a great example. To a large extent China and India's strengths are complementary rather than disparate. While China has become the world's workshop for manufactured goods and hardware, India is developing a highly competitive services and software sector. In a nutshell, everything says it makes sense to join forces and take on the West. And if we do, the economic boom in the East will be unstoppable. Much of the backend operations work that India takes on will take a backseat and the 'brain drain' from both these countries that has ad a hand in the prosperous West will reduce manifold.The question when it comes to tech power tilting in favour of the East is not 'If' but 'When'. And there's no doubt that we'll make a success of it when it comes; in many ways, we already have. The more interesting angle is how willingly the West will relinquish the crown and when it comes down to it, who has the right foundation to claim the number one position. India or China?