By Chris Devonshire-Ellis

Jun. 2 – As the new India cities of the 21st century begin to emerge from the older versions with new airports, toll roads and skyscrapers, I am reminded very much of standing on the Bund in  Shanghai back in 1991. As the city gently awoke from a 50-year slumber, the signs of impending progress were already underway. While the Big Ben-like chimes of the old Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Building (now the Pudong Development Bank) rang out the hour, across the Huangpu River and amidst the flat landscape of Pudong rose three massive concrete legs, looking for all the world like a Martian spider from “War of the Worlds.” The construction of Shanghai’s Oriental Pearl TV Tower had just begun. When finished, two years later, it would resemble a spaceship straight out of Star Trek, and love it or hate it, has since become an iconic Shanghai building.

The Chinese Coin, an iconic building in Shenyang

To put that moment into perspective, it’s important to remember how the world was at that time. George H.W. Bush was the U.S. president. Jiang Zemin was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (he would become the Chinese President in just two years). P.V. Narasimha Rao was the Indian Prime Minister. John Major was British Prime Minister.

It was forbidden for foreigners to possess RMB bank notes (and if we did have an illegally obtained supply, the RMB100 bill was blue instead of today’s red), West Germany were the World Cup Soccer champions, the Minnesota Twins were the World Series Champions, and the RMB traded at 8.65 to the U.S. dollar. The handover of Hong Kong to China was still six years away, and the Worldwide Web had just been launched the year prior. China’s GDP at the time amounted to US$356 billion. It is now US$5.1 trillion.

Twenty years later, and China has built the same number of skyscrapers in that time that previously existed in the entire world. Modern iconic buildings abound in every Chinese city, and whether stunning or crass (The Oriental Pearl TV Tower was highly unpopular when first completed) they are everywhere. From Beijing’s “Big Shorts” to Shenzhen’s Diwang Building, China’s rise to the skies in showing off its passage to growth and world power status can be marked through the relentless rise of its iconic structures.

It’s a rite of passage that almost seems to mark the success of a nation. On rare occasions it can also mark failures. The derelict, massive 105-story pyramid that looms over Pyongyang remains a sign of the collapse of the Soviet Union and much of North Korea’s barter trade. Like a needle piercing the clouds, it stands as a mark of the increasing isolation of a once proud nation now reduced to begging scraps from Beijing. Never completed due to a lack of funds, it stands sentinel over a Stalinist state’s propensity to overreach itself and pretend it can compete.

Elphinstone Mills

But in other cities, iconic buildings too are also looming large, and this is nowhere more true than India.

As the nation gears up for its own economic revival, much needed infrastructure is sprouting up from Mumbai to Chennai and from Delhi to Goa. Consider the Sea-Link. Not only is it a necessary part of Mumbai’s infrastructure, reducing travel times from North and South Mumbai to just 30 minutes from the previous hour and a half, but it also looks impressive. Stretching out for 7 kilometers across the ocean, it traverses the bay between Bandra and Worli. It is becoming a symbol of Mumbai just as the Oriental Pearl Tower did for Shanghai.

Others are following. Colloquially termed the “Bombay Boom,” Mumbai is set for a real makeover. Iconic buildings being planned or under construction include Elphinstone Mills, a 60-story complex including Grade A office space and retail shopping. It’s deliberately been designed to make an impact. The Imperial Towers in Mumbai, a twin design reminiscent of the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, will be the tallest in the city when completed. The work is underway, and many others are planned.

Imperial Towers

Just as Chinese cities have experimented and produced some eye catching buildings (I particularly like the round Chinese coin shaped office building in downtown Shenyang), Indian cities are also marking their rise to prominence and prosperity through buildings of their own. It reminds me that what I have seen in 20 years in China is now happening in India. And although India’s ratio of GDP when compared to China’s is now just 25 percent (20 years ago it was 89 percent), the country is now catching up.

The best prediction that I can make is that in another decade, the Indian economy will be about half the size of China’s. That means it is about to effectively double in size during that period. The marking of that transition will undoubtedly be laid down in foundations and gleaming spires. The age of the modern iconic building is taking off in India, and for businesses who wish to be part of that, the time to enter the Indian market is now.

Chris Devonshire-Ellis is the principal of Dezan Shira & Associates and oversees the firm’s India operations, where it provides corporate legal advice, establishment, tax planning and accounting services. He can be contacted at india@dezshira.com.

Chris also contributes to Asia Briefing’s other titles, India Briefing, China Briefing and Vietnam Briefing.

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