China has been able to attract FDI on very favorable terms, requiring lots of tech transfer and local sourcing. Has India been able to do the same?
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This is the question I was stumbling towards during an earlier thread about tech outsourcing to India.
It seems to me that the type of development we're seeing in India, at least that aspect of it receiving the most press lately, is of lesser depth than what's being done in China.
For example, while call center staffers and Java coders (to name just two categories of work) in Bangalore may be enjoying greater wages and other advantages of being in-demand the sorts of work they're performing and it's outwardly directed nature, appears to guarantee that the positive impact will be limited to a small set of outsourcing firms (Infosys, WiPro, et. al.) and their employees.
No infrastructure of interlocking manufacturing and service businesses seems to be flowering - merely islands for 'exported knowledge work'. China also has a flourishing computer culture and offers outsourcing services to the West. But much of Chinese IT talent is employed for Chinese business. There's a build of Linux in wide use called Red Flag. Chinese developers took the Linux kernel and built their own version for internal use.
Government offices, industrial facilities and service firms are beginning to use it. There is a market among Chinese computer enthusiasts as well. So, there is an entirely Chinese, self propelled domestic market for software services in support of Chinese industry, bureacracy and services.
It does not appear that the Indian software and services boom has a similar, internally self sustaining, character.
DRM
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