That might be the case if we
go by the increasing number of such assessments in the official Chinese media
like this one, an assessment published in China's Global Times, one of the
official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party. Published in Global Times'
opinion section 'Insider Eye', the article argues that like the western
countries have successfully done, it is now time for China to leverage huge
Indian talent pool to fuel its global competitiveness and presents point by
point support to base its narrative.
The article is written by S.
Ramakrishna Velamuri, a professor at the China Europe International Business
School (CEIBS) in Shanghai. CEIBS is one of the Ivy League B schools globally.
This assessment by an Indian origin professor who did his MBA from Spain and
PhD from America is important because it is not the first article on the
subject in the official Chinese media and because it is published in one of the
main official newspapers of China where nothing can go on pages without approval
from the higher ups in the Chinese government.
The article says even if
China produces largest number of engineers and science graduates in the world,
its forte traditionally has been in hardware. Making it complimentary to the huge
pool of software professionals in India will give the Chinese economy the edge
it needs to succeed in the times when we are heading to Industry 4.0, an era of
smart factories that work on seamless integration of hardware with software.
The industrial future is automation, driven by the Internet of Things and
cyber-physical systems.
The article argues that with
superior English language skills, "Indian software engineers are more
accustomed to developing solutions for global markets, whereas Chinese
engineers have been more focused on their domestic market".
Also, Indian population is
youngest in the world. The median age in India is 10 years lower than China. The
article argues that as knowledge-intensive industries hire fresh graduates and
groom them further, tapping into the Indian talent pool will provide a
sustained supply base in the foreseeable future. That will be a boon for a rapidly
aging China which is projected to have maximum number of over 65 people in the
world.
And to cap it all is India's cost
competitiveness, as the article writes that 'Indian talent is significantly
cheaper than the Chinese talent'.
The article says China is
rapidly becoming an innovation-driven economy from being the global
manufacturing base and was ranked 25th on the Global Innovation Index 2016. In upper
middle income countries, the country was ranked first. India has emerged as the
R&D hub for multinational companies. The articles says India has around
1200 R&D centres including 42% of the top 500 R&D spenders in the world
which employ over 3,00,000 professionals and the count is only going up. So,
India has what China needs.
Last month too, an article in
Global Times had written that by not attracting Indian talent, China had made a
mistake. Written by a Global Times reporter of Chinese origin, that assessment
was more direct in accepting that "talent pool in China was not large and
flexible enough to meet demand for the rapid expansion of innovation capability'.
The article wrote, "China cannot afford to risk a decline in its attractiveness
for high-tech investors and attracting high-tech talent from India could be one
of China's options for maintaining its innovation ability".
©SantoshChaubey