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India relies on Russian spare parts for our ships and planes. Russia has stood behind India when everyone else abandoned. USA just left behind billions of arms

India relies on Russian spare parts for our ships and planes. Russia has stood behind India when everyone else abandoned. USA just left behind billions of arms and weapons in Afghanistan that is being sold as parts and transported to Pakistan. With whom there is still border conflict. What do you think India should do?

oliwarner 5y ago
Make their own. Seriously, spare parts is such a silly reason. India has fairly diverse access to primary resources, a growing manufacturing sector, a solid education system. It's time to make your own stuff. Or they can risk it all to prop up a dictator.
- blip54321 5y ago
  Not very practical. India is among the densest countries in the world. Resources per unit population are pathetically low. Russia is among the least dense. India is 1.4 billion people, and Russia is 140 million -- ten times as many people. Russia is 17 million square kilometers, while India is 3 million. Russia is 5-6 times as large. That's 50-60 times the density. Flow of natural resources out of Russia into India is the natural state of things. I do think India ought to decouple, but it's not that easy. The economic hit will be large. The West should take some of that hit. Without the US and Canada stepping in, India can't decouple from Russia. Both sides ought to know that, and cooperate.
  - oliwarner 5y ago
    Raw density doesn't mean nearly as much as mineral geography and availability. It's because of the number of people that there's a race to the bottom in terms of wages. Skilled labour is almost half the price in India, $7kpa vs $13kpa (old Russian XR). Secondary materials like steel are 80% the price in India. Harvest materials like cotton and rubbers come from India in the first place. I'm not suggesting that the process would be free or fast or painless, but risking sanctions for something that could be in-housed for a relatively small in-house fee, and long term savings seems like a stupid thing to do. India needs an external market more than anything; certainly more than spare parts.
sidibe 5y ago
I don't know but now is not the time to suck up to this Russian regime, the next one might not look kindly on it, not to mention the rest of the world

oliwarner 5y ago

Make their own. Seriously, spare parts is such a silly reason. India has fairly diverse access to primary resources, a growing manufacturing sector, a solid education system. It's time to make your own stuff. Or they can risk it all to prop up a dictator.

blip54321 5y ago
Not very practical. India is among the densest countries in the world. Resources per unit population are pathetically low. Russia is among the least dense. India is 1.4 billion people, and Russia is 140 million -- ten times as many people. Russia is 17 million square kilometers, while India is 3 million. Russia is 5-6 times as large. That's 50-60 times the density. Flow of natural resources out of Russia into India is the natural state of things. I do think India ought to decouple, but it's not that easy. The economic hit will be large. The West should take some of that hit. Without the US and Canada stepping in, India can't decouple from Russia. Both sides ought to know that, and cooperate.
- oliwarner 5y ago
  Raw density doesn't mean nearly as much as mineral geography and availability. It's because of the number of people that there's a race to the bottom in terms of wages. Skilled labour is almost half the price in India, $7kpa vs $13kpa (old Russian XR). Secondary materials like steel are 80% the price in India. Harvest materials like cotton and rubbers come from India in the first place. I'm not suggesting that the process would be free or fast or painless, but risking sanctions for something that could be in-housed for a relatively small in-house fee, and long term savings seems like a stupid thing to do. India needs an external market more than anything; certainly more than spare parts.

sidibe 5y ago

I don't know but now is not the time to suck up to this Russian regime, the next one might not look kindly on it, not to mention the rest of the world