The insightful session was started with the discussion of three ways in which India can counter China i.e. Economically, Military wise, Diplomatically.
The conversation begins with the Economical way to counter the Chinese economy i.e. by focusing more on the Indian manufacturing sector and being proactive to maintain excellence in its service sector in the whole world as China is more concentrated towards the manufacturing sector and believes in the philosophy of more exports making other countries dependent on them. Military wise India has recently participated in 'The Quad' which a naval exercise conducted between India, Japan, the USA, and Australia in Indo - Pacific region to balance China vast military and economic power in the region was also added in the discussion. India has changed the policy of FDI for the neighbouring countries that share land borders with India that they have to now take the permission of the government for investments in Indian companies after seeing the rise in China's stake in HDFC bank was included in the conversation as one of the major diplomatic steps of India. Cordial and friendly relations with other nations was also considered as a better way to face China's dominance over the globe.
One of the participants highlighted the point that India's population is almost near to the Chinese population, so there is a need for an inside out approach which aims at more manufacturing and export-orientated strategies. According to one of the speaker, "The countries that have more of an authoritarian environment are successful like China and Russia ". However, the USA as a superpower of the world showcased that success is possible even with the democratic environment as contradicted by the other speaker.
The group discussion was made more informative and interesting through the statistical data on the literacy rate of the three countries i.e. India-74% approx. , China- around 97% and USA- 86% . Seeing India's position with respect to China is very low. Commenting on the above data the reason highlighted by one of the members was the education policy of India which is based on more theoretical knowledge as compared to practical understanding. The admission criteria in universities and institutions should more deviate towards the aptitude, the skillset of a child rather than marks. Indian IIMs, IITs and other universities which though doing excellence in education are still facing less participation of foreign students due to lack of infrastructural facilities to accommodate them were considered as the reason. Indian universities are needed to be encouraged to participate in global rankings.
The discussion was made more fruitful with the question that arises on why most of the Indian start-ups are funded by Chinese investors rather than Indians. The main cause highlighted was the risk-taking factor. Indians are more conservative in their investment strategies whereas Chinese are more risk-takers and believe in speculation. However, the cause highlighted above was contradicted by the other participant i.e. lack of trust and believes Indian have in the start-ups initially, they prefer investments when they are fully-fledged successfully. Although there are many Indian investors like Ratan Tata who are funding new start-ups of India.
The enlightening session concluded with the belief that India will take some time to modify their minds in entrepreneurship fields and will counter China strategically.
