Meaningless comparisons

It has become a big fad to compare India with China in every sphere and
field. On each and every count, all sorts of comparisons are made. In fact, we
Indian have become Chinese obsessed. But is this obsession justified? Absolutely
not. Totally out of question, especially when the comparisons are made about the
IT industry.

Consider this: the Chinese IT industry’s output will be $ 289 billion this
year, which is the third highest in the world. And what is the Indian IT
industry’s output going to be this year? Less than 10 percent of China.

The figure of $ 289 billion puts Chinese IT industry in the third spot
worldwide. And if you think that’s astonishing, consider this: By the year
2010–which is seven years from now–the $ 289 billion figure is expected to
treble and that would take China to the number one spot.

Now, that’s really awe inspiring. But what and how is China doing to make
itself the numero-uno in the world? First and foremost is the fact that a lot of
stress has been given to the advancement of domestic firms. In fact, besides a
strong output, China is also emerging as a leader in technology thanks to the
growth of these very domestic firms. In comparison, Indian domestic firms
engaged in hardware are just about able to keep their head above water. And, you
can count the number of these firms on the fingers of your left hand.

Besides, the Chinese IT ministry is planning to spend around $ 200 million
annually to help domestic firms develop their own technologies. In addition, it
plans to launch a software platform so that domestic firms can share their
technology. The focus is clearly on digital televisions, integrated circuit
manufacturing and 3G telecom application.

And what does the Indian IT ministry do to help the domestic firms? Precisely
nothing. In fact, you have a situation where the Indian IT minister doesn’t
even meet the domestic industry officials. Considering that, there is no way
Indian IT industry can even dream of comparing itself with the Chinese IT
industry.

Unarguably, the need of the hour for India is to pull up its socks and give
the hardware industry its due focus. Because, without a strong domestic
industry, there is no way India can even hope to cross the 10 percent mark. In
fact, the gulf will widen further in the coming years.