Forget China

Everybody in India is currently focused on China and how big and powerful it
is becoming as a competitor, and as a market. China is a big threat alright, but
there are other countries that are now trying to gear up to the new set of mega
opportunities at a global level.

Some of those who were world leaders in the traditional brick and mortar
economy have openly declared that they would like to be global leaders of the
new age information and services economy as well, include England, France and
Germany. Prime Minister in waiting Gordon Brown of the UK, president Nicolas
Sarkozy of France and chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany have made their
ambitions public. And there might be other names as well.

These countries already have lots of strengths, but it is a leadership change
that could make a big difference to countries such as India. Those of us who
feel that India is all set to conquer the world, should realize that this much
younger and different leadership mindset could make them a big contender for the
global pie.

There are quite a few things which these leaders feel must be improved if
their countries have to make an impact. Infrastructure, for instance, will be
one area that these European giants are going to focus on. All leaders,
including Brown, Merkel and Sarkozy, are stressing on the need to enhance the
quality of physical infrastructure in their countries. These include, among
other things, better power supply, more industrial and business zones for
companies to set up operations, higher telecom and IT penetration in public and
corporate life and high quality Internet, and e-Governance. We will see these
governments spending more on developing this backbone.

One is also likely to see more industry and business friendly policies for
taxation, work related travel, and even emigration. Lobbyists and opinion makers
such as Thomas Friedman, who wrote 'The World if Flat', are now rallying that
people who come to the US for technical, management, and other job oriented
courses, should be given a green card without any conditions. Otherwise, these
exceptionally bright students, who get educated and trained in the world's best
institutes, will go back to their country.

The other area these countries say they will focus on is education systems
and planning. Many of these countries are actually teaching more students from
other countries like India, China, Brazil, Vietnam, South Africa and Croatia
than their own natives. The reasons are several and they need to be handled at a
Governmental level. These leaders have indicated that they will ensure that
there are more of their own boys and girls in technical and management schools.

In a nutshell, if these European giants are successful in what they are
talking about, then they might be able to offer a far superior but more cost
effective infrastructure for attracting business, a far bigger and economical
talent pool to take up the jobs on offer, and a bigger market that would give
them much stronger negotiating position with vendors as well as customers. And a
business and political environment that allows business travelers to come into
EU easily, and move within EU more freely, will encourage talent from other
countries, thereby reducing salary pressures.

What has not happened very successfully so far is that these countries, in
spite of EU, have not been able to work very closely. But some political
observers say that economics will surely bring them together. India, surely,
needs to work on all of these things, and work fast.