BIZCHINA> Top Biz News
|
BIZCHINA> Top Biz News
|
|
Dragon ready to waltz with the elephant
By Lu Haoting (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-05-04 07:50 'C' for complementary Anil K Gupta, professor of strategy and organization at the Smith School of Business, the University of Maryland, wrote in his book Getting China and India Right: Strategies for Leveraging the World's Fastest Growing Economies for Global Advantage that China and India are the only two countries that constitute four realities that are strategically crucial for global enterprises. Both countries provide mega-markets for almost every product and service; both have platforms that will dramatically reduce a company's global cost structure; both have platforms that will significantly boost the company's global technology and innovation base; and both are springboards for the emergence of new fearsome global competitors. "We should work together to make full use of these strengths. I always believe C means complementary not competition," said J J Shrikhande, chairman, India Business Forum. The India Business Forum was launched in Beijing by CII in mid-April as an initiative that regularly provides a platform for bringing together various Indian companies in China for networking, cooperation and knowledge sharing. It will also act as a platform for networking with Chinese companies interested in doing business with India, think tanks and policy makers in China. CII has launched the same initiative in the US, South Africa and Singapore. "China and India should further improve their business environment and market access for companies to invest in each other's home turf," Wang Jinzhen, vice-chairman, China Council for Promotion of International Trade, said at the launch ceremony of the forum. "Another area where the two countries can cooperate is in making joint investments in a third country. Indians are more knowledgeable in the international markets than the Chinese people while China has the technology and design," Wang said. Indian investment in China is close to $900 million, while Chinese investment in India is less than $100 million, according to statistics from the Indian Embassy in Beijing. "There is huge potential for Chinese companies to take up projects in India's infrastructure development," said Shrikhande, who is also China head of Indian construction and engineering firm Larsen & Toubro Ltd. India has a huge requirement for infrastructure across sectors such as power, roads, ports, airports and telecommunications. It has been estimated that India can absorb investments of $500 billion in infrastructure sector over the next five years. China's experience and expertise developed through an over two-decade infrastructure construction boom would certainly help India achieve its goal. For instance, India has been plagued by power shortage as the overall growth in the Indian industry far outpaces the growth of its power sector. China added 283,000 mw capacity in the past five years, while India only added 21,100 mw during the same period, Rabade said. During its 10th Five-Year Plan, which ended in 2007, India achieved only 51 percent of the projected capacity addition of 41,110 mw, Rabade said. "For the 11th Plan period, capacity addition of 78,577 mw is planned. The question is - will we achieve this?" he said. Rabade said India's huge power demand should make full use of China's strength in high production capacity, standard design and short delivery. Chinese products and technologies also cost less than other international power plant manufacturers. Currently Shanghai Electric and Dongfang Electric are two major Chinese electrical equipment manufacturing companies operating in India. "India is one of the most important overseas markets for us," said an official from Shanghai Electric who declined to be named. The Hong Kong-listed company has presence in 12 Indian states. (For more biz stories, please visit Industries)
|
