While the western world is lamenting over the lack of growth in the economy, the story in Asia seems to be more sanguine than it has ever been. Being a keen observer of the developments in China, I feel quite fascinated with the usual India vs China topic. Since the media of any country can be too critical or optimistic about its own country, magazines/newspapers such as The Economist, WSJ seem to be more reliable and from what I perceive from there is that while Indians, like me , are obsessed with India and think about India,China in the same breath, the Chinese don't view India more than a regional player.While the Indian newspapers seem to be covering news on China from time to time, the Chinese media hardly find discussing about India as a topic of interest.Open the website of The Economist and any day, you'll find some or the other news related to China,as much negative as positive but still something the western world is fascinated about, while India finds a mention somewhere at the bottom of the site. I hit upon this interesting BBC story which seem to have explored this topic and thought that I'd share it with you. Watch the rest of the two videos of this series on youtube.
I'm quite curious to know how do the people in the US perceive this India vs China debate. Here's an article on The Economist which has become one of the most commented article on The Economist over the last few weeks. The world really seems to be hooked to the Indo-China debate
http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/10/comparing-india-and-china
I'm quite curious to know how do the people in the US perceive this India vs China debate. Here's an article on The Economist which has become one of the most commented article on The Economist over the last few weeks. The world really seems to be hooked to the Indo-China debate
http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/10/comparing-india-and-china
Comments
Three weeks back in a Youth hostel, I chatted up with an English gentleman who teaches in Cambridge (not the university). He learnt about my Tata connection and questions followed thick and fast. Jaguar, Corus and Tetley now being part of Tata in UK. According to him, initially there were apprehensions about companies being headed by non-British corporations. Overtime, as the companies started giving good results and local resources being employed, the sentiments have become favourable.
Next followed questions about English as a means of communication in India. I told him English is a common subject in school and generally speaking an Indian will know atleast three languages; Hindi, English and the mother-tongue. I have read reports of China imparting English language skills to the young children. So, atleast one advantage we have over the Chinese is being taken note of.
I have seen a BBC documentary 'Tropic of Capricorn' and Chinese have a connection or presence in many countries through which the line passes. Be it getting infrastructure/development contracts in hostile African countries or shipping raw materials from South America or Australia. Even India has a mention in world business affairs today. Last week during the Blackberry outage update, India is mentioned as a separate entity! Still, may be China has an edge now owing to it's stubborness and getting things done easily, in contrast majority have to agree in India for any action.
Anyways, as people in India and China and also including Brazil and Russia enhance their skills and be an unsaturated market base to consume what the world produces, bussinesses will turn to these countries to be on top of the world.
Thanks for these videos. I really learnt a lot.
Let's discuss this when we meet.
D
Yes,initially British were skeptical to the acquisition of british companies. In fact,it was hard for a lot of old people there in UK to gulp down the fact that now their kids will be working for companies which belonged to a country which they once ruled.
But within a period of 3-4 years, the situation has taken a U turn. The British have developed a great admiration for the Tatas and Indians(L.N. Mittal, Sir Paul Swaraj being some other illustrous Indians) and actually want a lot of British companies which are functioning in a laid back way to be acquired by firms abroad which are seen to be more agressive.
let's hope that Ratan Tata finds a good successor. Noel Tata, one of the contendors for the top job, is really not worth it and I think that he's going to screw the growth trajectory of the Tatas as has Pradeep Chaudhray done lately with SBI after the retirement of O.P Bhatt,one person I have great admiration for, for the way he transformed SBI in a matter of 7-8 years. There's a book "Grit, Guts and Gumption:Driving change in a state owned giant" which is worth regarding in this regard