5 ms·
It’s Morning in India
- FraaJad 16y agoThis sounds like a press piece by NASSCOM and Indian IT majors.
- okjnboikjnb 16y agoAt the moment Indians are cheap labor for US consumers, at some point Indian consumers become the market and the US becomes irrelevent. Riduculous of course - just like the idea that those Japanese could ever make cars as good as Americans, or motorbikes as good as the British or cameras as good as the Germans.
- jrockway 16y agoThe US outsources to India because it's cheap. We get 4 support people in India for the price of one in the US. When India is really up to the standards of the US, it's not going to be cheap anymore.
- nirajr 16y agoThat is exactly the point. Why resort to protectionism. Let the market forces play themselves out. Protectionism is just the opposite of what the US preached to the world. Indians are sufficiently entrepreneurial - especially given the constraints they work under. I am quite confident that Indians would figure out a model that will continue to work.
- FraaJad 16y agoActually, IT labour is not cheap in India. It is quite common for IT workers to expect 15% minimum yearly increase in salaries and not less than 30% hike in salaries when switching jobs. The Rupee-Dollar arbitrage is the biggest advantage Indian IT companies are enjoying right now.
- jrockway 16y agoNo, it's still very cheap. People in the US aim for 30% when switching jobs.
- gaius 16y agoWell, there is a hidden externality here. Traditionally helpesk and tester roles have been a "feeder" for sysadmin and developer roles. They are entry level jobs that are easier to get, a company gets to see who is talented and ambitions and they "move up" to more complex and technical work. If that pipeline disappears because helpdesk and testing have moved offshore, then the Western IT firms lose the ability to hire capable people that for whatever reason haven't gone the CS degree route, and those people lose the opportunity to get into the industry too. Penny wise, pound foolish.
- sagarun 16y agoThe reason why, every Indian IT majors are trying to stop america from going into protectionism mode is their 90% of the revenue comes from US. Yes the labour is "cheap" here - 24$ per hour. Currently Indian IT majors have no or very low focus on local Indian consumers.
- Garbage 16y ago> Currently Indian IT majors have no or very low focus on local Indian consumers. India's largest software exporter, TCS get its almost 10% revenue from domestic clients. One of the major client is Government of India ofcourse.
- FraaJad 16y agoThe IT majors have looked beyond US to de-risk their portfolio. IIRC, Infosys' dependence on US market is < 50% of their revenue. They are expanding aggressively in Europe etc.,
- DannoHung 16y agoIsn't it sort of silly to compare manufactured products to labor talent? Like... that you can somehow craft a process that will take any given human being and make them into an excellent worker, free from abnormalities and flaws?
- okjnboikjnb 16y agoI mean the Americans feel threatened by cheap Indian labor and so set up protectionist policies to stop Indian workers having access to their economy. All this does it force the Indian economy to grow to the point where the consumers for Indian goods and services are Indian - and the same for China.
- pshapiro 16y agoI'm not saying I agree that Japanese products can't be better than another country's, but... isn't crafting a better production process the result of labor talent in the first place?
- okjnboikjnb 16y agoYou are all probably too young to remember when Japanese imports were dismissed as cheap copies. Rather like Chinese products or Indian software is now.
- subbu 16y agoI disagree. Outsourcing overshadows everything else when it comes to India. What everybody doesn't know is this. Just walk into any departmental shop and you will find more American brands than Indian (the only possible exception to this is fresh food and other food raw materials.) Only in the last few years have Indian consumer brands became well-known and competing against foreign brands. Take any category and the top 1-2 brands are probably American. India supplies a huge amount of consumers for American brands (for that matter any good quality products).
- emsysman 16y agoYes, but I would still agree with the core thought, which is, America, which thought world about free market, is afraid of loosing its jobs to outsourcing.
- loewenskind 16y ago>which is, America, which thought world about free market What? They may have taught the world about debt but certainly not free market. Adam Smith wasn't even American.
- kilomanamolik 16y agowhy do people link to these? I'm always asked to login and I don't have the patience to do so..
- kiba 16y agoFor some reason, I do not have to login.
- noahth 16y agowhy do people link to these? Friedman is a cheesy, uninsightful, mostly bogus commentator.
- miked 16y agoNew York State law requires that one out of every five Thomas Friedman columns make some sense. This one bags his quota for the month.
- gruseom 16y agoNot so fast. The very first sentence is wrong: the French government's decision to raise its pension retirement age from 60 to 62 That's the early retirement age they're raising, to the same 62 as the US has. The normal retirement age is being raised from 65 to 67, 1 year later than the US at 66. Oopsies. http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/more-communications-problems-at-the-washington-post http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/more-comm..., confirmed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retirement http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retirement Despite it all, I enjoy reading Friedman. Even though his job description is apparently "be professionally wrong about everything for the New York Times", there's something cozy and comfy about his writing. His tone communicates that the world makes sense and the moustache will explain it to you. What's interesting is how nice it makes one feel, even when one knows the probability of any sentence being bullshit approaches 1. Edit: Friedman also has the merit of inspiring the greatest smackdown review of our time. There aren't nearly enough laughs of this calibre in this world: http://www.nypress.com/article-11419-flathead.html http://www.nypress.com/article-11419-flathead.html
- pilom 16y agoThe best quotation from this: "The U.S. seems sadly unprepared to take advantage of the revolution it has spawned. The country’s worn-out infrastructure, failing education system and lack of political consensus have prevented it from riding a new wave to prosperity."
- groaner 16y agoIronic that this commentary should come from India, which is improving despite the country's worn-out infrastructure, failing education system, and lack of political consensus.
- gamble 16y agoNever underestimate the effect of growth, or lack thereof, on the public attitude.
- FraaJad 16y agoThe difference is, India is clawing it's way out of those conditions. We can only go up.
- amutap 16y agothis is a genral concensus but there are some very strong under currents that are taking india away from this... the number of infrastructure projects in and around major cities are growing exponentially. new airports, busniess parks, highways you name it... to add to this, india is not just out-sourcing.. yes it is a 70 billion dollar industry but there are lot many things going on in india. yes given the beaurocracy things might not be apparent but india is coming into its own slowly but surely
- gamble 16y agoOne of the great American foreign policy mistakes for the last fifty years has been the decision to keep India at arms length, while embracing Pakistan and China. It goes back to Cold War politics - India was suspiciously socialist and non-aligned, whereas Pakistan and China were willing to act as bulwarks against Soviet Communism. However, the West has far more in common culturally and economically with India than it ever will with Pakistan or China. In strictly utilitarian terms, a strong India is far more to our advantage than an empowered China. Pakistan is a crucible for radical Islam and a haven for terrorism, while China is chronically autarchic and mercantilist. I fear that neither is ever likely to integrate well with the existing group of first-world nations. So far, India appears much more compatible. Fortunately, it seems like attitudes have been changing in recent years. Liberalization and outsourcing (not without its own problems, obviously) have opened India to the west, while people are starting to realize the westernization of China and Pakistan isn't as inevitable as was once claimed.
- kranner 16y agoDon't discount that Pakistan and India have much more in common than is obvious to someone not from the subcontinent.
- gamble 16y agoTrue, I don't want to downplay the distinctiveness of Indian culture or its ties to Pakistan. But speaking from a western, utilitarian foreign policy perspective, the aspects that are desirable about India are the parts that are distinctive, or if they exist in Pakistan are undermined by the political realities there.
- nirajr 16y agoAs an Indian, I can tell you some fundamental differences between India and Pakistan: - India is usually very open to debate, on just about anything. - Radicalism, though exists in India in pockets and in different forms, is not a chronic national disease. - People understand the language of development now (to a large extent) - Knowledge and Education is very deeply valued. Its a part of how most Indians think. - Corruption is rampant, but media is becoming extremely vigilant. We have a Right to Information, which has been used to great effect recently to curb corruption and malpractices. - Lastly, we are a democracy in the true sense of the work. 80% of Indians are proud of it. We are chaotic and corrupt and crippled with hundreds of problems, but at the same time, we're enterprising, hard-working, mostly ambitious, and mostly open-minded.
- known 16y agoChina prospered without India's dummy democracy and casteism. Indians are brainwashed to believe that (casting a vote in elections == democracy) and a solution to all problems.
- known 16y ago98% revenue for Indian IT companies comes through selling consulting to US customers. Selling software != Selling consulting
- flacon 16y agoAs an American that has spent time in India, I can say that India will be a next major economic world power. Democracy + creativity + entrepreneurship + skilled work force + Indian optimism + excellent English skills = huge potential as a major economic driver in the world economy. China IMO lacks Democracy and creativity (to some extent, why are all the major Tech startup in China simply knock-offs of US companies? Baidu, Youku which are willing to comply with their Gov demands).