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THE
INDIA-CHINA COMPARISON
Dragon
Fire
Cruel,
trenchant and deathly, numbers benumb the Indian visitor in China. Begin
with per capita income. India's is $450, China's $780. Take foreign-exchange
reserves. India has $35 billion in its kitty; China has $155 billion.
India will grow 212 million tonnes of foodgrains this year; China has
hit 500 million tonnes.
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| China's
big boom has put it in a league of its own |
Move away
from basic parameters to new-fangled cell phones. India has just crossed
the two million mark in terms of mobile handset users. China, with 60
millions cell-phone users already, is the world's fastest growing market,
adding two million a month.
Tourism
is one industry where India can match China monument for monument, locale
for locale, heritage for heritage. Yet 72 million foreign tourists visit
China every year, earning it $15 billion in foreign exchange. In contrast,
India receives only 2.5 million tourists, netting $900 million. According
to the World Tourism Organisation, by 2020 China will be the world's favourite
destination with 137 million foreign visitors.
About the
only area where India scores over China is the public sector. Reform-minded
Indians often complain Jawaharlal Nehru, well-meaning man as he was, knew
no economics. The good news is that Mao Zedong knew even less. India has
248 Central public-sector units (PSUs), which employ 1.9 million people.
India's entire state sector-Central and state governments and the PSUs
- has a workforce 20-million-strong. China has 7,600 big state-owned enterprises
(SOEs) and if one includes small and medium units the figure rises to
3,00,000. China's SOEs employ over 100 million-down from a peak of 130
million in the mid-1990s. Return on capital for the SOEs is a measly 0.4
per cent; in comparison, with a return on capital of 2.8 per cent, Indian
PSUs seem almost healthy.
China's
public-sector reforms-the 100 million workers support an estimated 200
million dependents-are in a mess. About 10 million people have been sacked
in the past three years and six million more could lose jobs this year.
In north-eastern China, the provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning-traditionally
known as Manchuria and hardcore public sector terrain - the retrenchment
has led to the Falun Gong cult attracting laid off labourers and saddled
Beijing with an international crisis. In comparison, analysts say, India's
privatisation project, when it begins in right earnest, will be a cinch.
Well, hope springs eternal.
By
Ashok Malik
Top
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In
India, youth is marked by impetuosity and prevented from getting ahead.
Elsewhere, of course, the young rule the world, says INDIA TODAY Deputy
Editor Swapan Dasgupta in 
