A lot has been discussed about the countries who had invested significantly in China now planning to move out and shift their manufacturing units in other countries. Among the top contenders, India is a prime choice and rightly so. India is the largest democratic country in the world, the average age being just 26. The youth is definitely talented, our accounting practices are accepted worldwide and we have robust banking system. We have a fairly good communication infrastructure, our labour cost is still less than that of China and we practice of frugal work habits..
Having said all this, we need to analyse , strategies and have a definitive road map to shoulder this responsibility. China has maintained the top position for close to three decades and practically is the super power of the world. China has certainly eradicated poverty of major section of society, in spite of being a Communist country, not to mention the unethical work practices
It would be a tough task, though not impossible for all countries to replace China as a major supplier to the world. If we consider only India its bilateral trade is close $ 87 Bn. Out of which China exports $70 Bn worth goods to India which is close 13.7% of total imports. Can we simply stop that and develop products indigenous? Other than this the products which are imported from other countries carry some or the other Chinese sub assembly or part. In short directly or indirectly we must be importing more than $150 Bn worth of Chinese goods. And these imports are in varied range of products like soft toys, sports goods, white goods, automobile parts, pharma sector, solar panels, household items, mobile phones etc
Our patriotic emotions surge everytime China does something against the interest of India, We demand the Chinese products be banned. Remember the incidents of China helping Pakistan few years ago, or their skirmish with Indian soldiers on North East border? This time emotional quotient against China is very high all across the globe .
It is practically impossible to immediately stop trade with China, and create supply chain as alternative to it. Most of the Chinese companies have globally set up their establishments .There was an uproar when The People Bank of China bought 1.75 Crores of shares of HDFC. But we should not forget that MG Hector is Chinese company who invested Rs 5000 crores in India. The car is a matter of pride and a status symbol among people who have bought it. Clearly the emotions are misplaced and we are giving out confused signals. Another Chinese company has already bought the Talegaon GM plant at an undisclosed amount. Zoom, the app, which , nowadays has become very popular, to hold all our video meetings, is founded by Eric Yuan, a Chinese, now an American and Chinese nationalilty
I think it is a mammoth task. We need to work on the fundamentals and different verticals as individuals, as a Society and at the national/government level. All this would require radical changes. Given to understand the scale of opportunities it would be worth bringing about the changes.
As individuals, we need to evolve as better citizens and think for the betterment of the society and the Nation, above everything. We need to inculcate the qualities of higher ethics, quality standards, higher productivity and make excellence a necessity. But the fact is that majority of us are far behind the average standard of world on these aspects Along with a strong set of values. we can certainly contribute in accelerating growth and capturing this new envisaged opportunity.
Once known as a very entrepreneurial society, we now rarely encourage innovation or even failures. We discard people, not their ideas leading to a complete dearth of new ideas. We find it difficult leaving our comfort zones. The ideas which worth pursuing should be propelled in to scalability. And there would be failures. As a society, are we going to stop looking at failures as crime.? One can list hundred of Chinese companies whose individual production numbers are equivalent to India's national production. We need to have a better social eco system to take risk, mitigate risk and eventually de risk it. Business owners, particularly SME segment, should work on improving brand value of our country .India as a country is not yet very trusted brand for deliverance.
Our government can be more proactive towards business owners. India has progressed extremely well on ease of doing business from the rank of at 130, today we stand at 63. Is that enough to capture the opportunity? SMEs who contribute 45% of total GDP and 40% of total exports are at dismay of receiving support on various aspects. Small industrial parks, quick availability of finance, easing out customs procedures are few of the areas of improvements. The rules regulations and procedures can be more user friendly. This will encourage a lot of people to become entrepreneurs. The Govt could also guide businessmen to choose the right country as business partners. China, better known as dragon, is already spreading its voracious legs in India. In the process of curbing imports from China, it should not happen that Indian soil is used by Chinese companies and bring their unethical work practices.
As individuals/society/government, we should sharpen our skills to grab this opportunity. We have lost quite a few opportunities earlier.A few start -ups did well, however could not sustain,. We need to evaluate where things went wrong and execute remedial actions. Our H,R and education ministry should become more proactive and people friendly.
I strongly believe that we as a nation the country need to challenge conventional work practices, beliefs and wisdom across pyramid of country. Else our patriotism will be restricted to sporadic events.
As I conclude, I wish to state that I am definitely optimistic and do believe that we are capable of becoming a globally acknowledged country for international business.
