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Billions of
Entrepreneurs
Khanna calls this book an intellectual odyssey triggered by his article, Can India Overtake China, written earlier. The author sees it as an attempt to illuminate contemporary vagueness about what is happening in China and India. According to him, the real issue is not the difference but the jointness between the two Asian grants, the two emerging economies with the highest growth rates which will make them the economic power house of the world in less than a generation. The 2006 visit of President Hu Jintao to India, his 5-point proposal for promoting China-India economic and trade corporation and the recent visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, recognise the fact that the two neighbours are no more rivals but partners in competitive development, both have their unique strengths and can contribute through a ‘dance mutualism’ to global economy and the long-term prosperity of Asia. One chapter each is devoted to the efficiency of the Chinese state and the dysfunction of India and contrast in China’s information control policies with India’s information transparency. The chapter Fiat and fairness: why China can build cities overnight and India cannot is about attitude of the two countries to private property. Another chapter lays bare the realities of two fundamentally different financial systems. While banking in China is ‘of the party, by the party, for the party’ pattern and government activism is the problem, India has improved its regulatory and economic environment after learning its lessons from many scams. The second part of the book, ‘Enterprise’, begins with pairs of entrepreneurs—Indians in India, Infosys and TCL, Microsoft in China and the German firm Metro Cash and Carry in India. The author concludes that while China prefers multinationals over indigenous private companies, India advantages its locals and shuns foreigners. Multinationals generally have greater choices in China than in India. The book discusses attitude of the Chinese and India’s towards their 50 million and 20 million diasporas, respectively. While India due to its diasporas mismanagement is still at the level of securing a jugalbandi between the two, China views its diasporas as part of its national fabric and has galvanised this resource to its economic development. Two chapters explore the rural economic and health care aspects for their large rural population. China’s poorest villages are better off than India’s richest, yet both the nations have faired equally badly in the health care domain. The third part, ‘Future’, explores the implications of China and India for the world of tomorrow. While China is using its hard power of economic development to influence the world, India’s influence the world is more through its soft power of art and culture and yoga. A chapter describes the linking of China and India through the corporate symbiosis of ‘General Electric’. It is an example of West’s keenness in reengagement with China and India. Khanna’s book is certainly not the first one on the subject. However, his style is original, entertaining and fascinating with many anecdotes and examples, making the book immensely readable and useful for any one interested in ‘Chindia’ of today and tomorrow.
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CHINA and India can no
more be ignored by the world as they represent the rising power of
more than 2.4 billion people (and still counting). Both nations with
centuries-old civilisation, unique history and similar objectives are
aggressively engaged in reshaping the future of the world. China and
India are very different from each other as both made very different
choices as young states under Mao and Nehru, so different that they
are almost ‘mirror image’ of each other in many ways.