Indo Chinese Cookbook

 

We Indians love Chinese Food. But what we prefer eating is the Indian version of Chinese Food. This cuisine is famous as Indo-Chinese. But apart from this one fusion, there is nothing that is an Indo-Chinese collaboration. We cannot think of China without another C Words: Conflict and Competition. Incidentally,   last year as the world was heading toward recession its two economies postponed the inevitable. But that was just a fact that India and China are now big stakeholders in the world economy.  Throughout 22, we have seen border conflict with China and geopolitical confrontation between India and China at the UN, Quad or South China Sea, SAARC. As the Chinese New Year of Rabbit rings in, India has surpassed China as the most populous country. Many alarmists predict a doomsday situation for India and the achievement of China to enforce population control. But there are issues with the facts and numbers  

China is going to be the first country in history to be old before its rich. Its population will peak just below 1.5 billion in the next decade and then slowly shrink to about 1.3 billion people by mid-century. By 2050, China’s “dependency ratio”—that is, “dependents” (children and the aged) relative to people of working age—will double from 35 percent to 70 percent (the lasting effect of China’s one-child policy). This will put massive strains on the country’s nascent welfare state and struggling health system. Demography isn’t destiny, but having a growing population with lots of working-age people is a great place to start.  By 2050, India will be the world’s largest country in terms of population by a wide margin over China, with a mind-boggling 1.7 billion people—400 million more than today. Over the next 35 years, its dependency ratio will actually decline from a bit over 50 percent today to a bit under 50 percent in 2050. Indians will live longer, so the aged population will grow considerably. With more affluence, India’s birth rate will come down too. But Indian fertility will remain high by all but African standards, and this will be a great foundational resource for the economy. While a massive working-age population gives India the chance to become the world’s next growth titan, the country will have to work hard to translate its demographic windfall into much higher standards of living for average Indians. Economic productivity is the key. Keeping other factors equal, India would have advantages in terms of the size of the labor force and growth of the labor force compared to the next two decades. India is unlikely to face a labor shortage for the next two decades, and such issues may be seen in China.   

India began its economic reform in the early 1990s, more than a decade after China. But in the last quarter century, China has accelerated its economy, while India’s has weakened comparatively. Why? Chinese growth has been driven by some of the world’s highest investment rates. This has in turn made possible both an infrastructure revolution of new cities, high-speed rail lines, airports and ports, and manufacturing muscle that has been the envy of the world. China has been the world’s factory for 20 years. Its ability to quickly and efficiently move what it produces domestically and around the world has been a critical component in its growth miracle. Today, India lags far behind China on all three fronts.  China has arguably the best physical infrastructure outside the Western world. India looks more like the poor country that it still is.  

But this is a real opportunity for India. Increase investment. Improve infrastructure. Grow economic output. This is a tried-and-true path to growth, and it is one India is poised to follow. Consider India’s vaunted tech sector. We all know about the incredible Indian talent running some of America’s tech icons. Pichai, Nadela so many other Indian-American tech sector executives are a testament to the power of the immigration-innovation nexus in the U.S. Don’t let these rock star CEOs fool anyone into thinking the only way for Indian technologists to succeed is to work in the U.S. for American firms. Homegrown, and still home-centered, companies like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, and Wipro are real-world leaders when it comes to information technology. And Indian entrepreneurs are killing it today in startups  The growth of Indian tech has been fueled by large-scale private-sector investment, from both India and abroad. These companies needed infrastructure to thrive, but the infrastructure was digital, not physical—allowing Indian IT firms to beam information and analysis from India to the world and back long before anyone was talking about “cloud.” They didn’t need to ship widgets because their products were all in bits. About a decade ago, some optimists thought India could leapfrog over the manufacturing and physical infrastructure stage of development (widgets) to build the whole economy around digital (bits). Today, it is clear that, while India’s tech sector is fantastic and growing, the whole, the massive country will have to develop the old-fashioned way with better infrastructure and more manufacturing. What will determine whether India can become a bit more Chinese when it comes to infrastructure and manufacturing? Unlike China, the answer will not be government investment because the Indian state is hamstrung by endemic budget deficits of big subsidies and limited taxation. The good news for India is that the private sector is ready to step in.    

There is nowhere India is more different from China in the world of politics as china has a massive undercurrent repressed by one-party politics.  We have seen that during anti-Covid restriction protests in China.  

By no means can we predict that India will go on a growth charge the way China has or China will fall due to the problems mentioned.  The raw material India has to work with is so rich. The challenge now is to catalyze it. Then only Indian Cuisine can surpass Chinese on a Global scale. And we cannot wait to live that day.