2point6billion, today, brings to you a wonderful discussion on the effects of globalisation on India and China by Dr. Pradeep Taneja, and Dr. Salim Lakha, lecturers, University of Melbourne, Australia. This is called :The Melbourne University Up Close, a fortnightly podcast of research, personalities, and cultural offerings.

We first get you a feel of it to run for the rest: a bit of teaser if you like to call it!

China had a head start over India in opening up its economy and attracting foreign companies, foreign investment and therefore creating more employment… 

…It was interesting that last year, of the 3,000 or so graduates from all the IITs in India, only 18 went to work overseas …how Indian graduates who used to earlier live and work overseas for multinational companies, and that has turned around. For example, the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology, in the past, before these new economic policies came into effect…

…the future of China’s economic reforms and these current economic policies will really depend on how these political issues are resolved. I mean, the famous New York Times columnist, who wrote that book [The] Lexus and the Olive Tree, he compares India and China to two cars, driving on two different roads. He says, India is like a car driving on a bumpy road at about 60-70kmph. China is like a car driving on a very nice expressway, very smooth expressway at 130-140 kmph. But the difference is…..

Remember the Chinese Growth Model- will it survive?  on 2point6billion on similar lines..

“….. untenable. I mean, ideologically, it is already very difficult for the Chinese Communist party to continue to justify their economic policies in ideological terms. And I think in the longer term it will become difficult to justify it to the Chinese people, particularly the growing middle classes in China….”

You just cant miss this out. Follow the link and enjoy!

And I will wait to see what you have to say

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has in a bid to offset the tide of the foreign currency inflows that have sharply strengthened the Rupee against the dollar, on this Tuesday the 25th September, 07, lifted some of the curbs on Capital Outflows as a part of ongoing efforts to eventually lift curbs on currency transactions and create a fully convertible Rupee from a partially one {The Committee on Fuller Capital Account Convertibility (CFCAC), gave its report  last year, in September laying down road map for 5 years  to make the Rupee fully convertible hence doing away with RBI approval} There have been relaxations brought in with immediate effects for local companies, mutual funds and individuals to tame the rising rupee.

These amendments were the need of the Hour. The Rupee (risen by around 11% in 2007) closed at a new nine – year high of 39.74 per US Dollar on 25th September, 2007 so that you could now buy one US dollar for only Rs 39.91 which a few years back was available for more than Rs 44. Overall rise in last 15 days was around 2%, thanks to the US Fed rate being cut by 50 basis point and led to FFI’s bringing in billions into the country accumulating the total FDI in the country to $ 11 billion. Hence the said measures.

The Treasury Head of Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. said “The purpose is to create a demand for dollars in order to neutralize the large inflows that are coming into the country”.

Thus in view of the above and in consultation with the Government of India, RBI decided to accelerate the implementation of the third phase of the recommendations of CFCAC with regard to the foreign exchange outflows. The measures announced with immediate effect are:   Continue reading →

It seems that the Chinese consider that Indian software education model is most appropriate for them besides success stories of Indian firms in global outsourcing field that encourages them. There’s enough here to substantiate this.

We have NIIT and Aptech on our agenda for you today. These global IT learning solutions corporations are pioneers in the field of IT education and training.

NIIT was founded in December 1981 while Aptech commenced its business in 1986 , in India, and have since become the attraction for Indians looking for careers in the IT sector. But a replica seems to be in for China for the last few years.

China has over the years become a very important market for NIIT and Aptech. One of their officals had said “Since our business in China is contributing 35-40% to our revenues, for us it’s a very important market. If one ignores China, he has to pay a heavy price.”  The IT education retail market in China is expected to grow between 17-19% annually by 2010!

Since year 2000, Aptech has been operating successfully in China through its joint venture – Aptech Beida Jadebird IT Co. Ltd, an affiliate of Beijing University in China, it has over 250 centers in 57 cities and trained around 4 lac students in all. Continue reading →