An Indian professor is urging China to leverage Indian talent pool to boost global competitiveness through an opinion piece that appeared in the Global Times, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party.
The write-up, which appeared in the column entitled "Insider Eye," was written by Indian S Ramakrishna Velamuri, a professor at China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai, who completed his MBA in Spain and Ph.D. in the U.S.
While the piece was written by an Indian, India Today said that it is noteworthy that it was published in a major Chinese newspaper, where everything gets approved by Chinese officials before printing.
Velamuri pointed out that while China is the world's largest producer of engineers and science graduates, they traditionally specialize in hardware.
He added that by complimenting this specialization with India's pool of software professionals, China's economy will gain the edge it needs to succeed as the world heads toward an era where factories work on a seamless integration of hardware with software, called the Industry 4.0.
The Indian professor added that with their superior English language skills, Indian software engineers are accustomed to creating solutions for global market, whereas Chinese engineers are more focused on their local market.
The article also pointed out that India's population--the youngest in the world--can provide a sustained supply base to China for the foreseeable future. China is rapidly aging and is projected to have the world's biggest population of people over 65 years old.
Velamuri also emphasized that Indian talent is "significantly cheaper" than those of China's.
China is rapidly switching from being a global manufacturing base to being an innovation-driven economy.
Meanwhile, India has emerged as the R&D hub for multinational companies with around 1,200 R&D centers, which include 42 percent of the top 500 R&D spenders in the world. India's R&D centers employ more than 300,000 professionals.
China is relying on its growing number of engineers to help advance in innovation.