‘India lags behind China by more than 5 yrs’

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Beijing, Oct 9: Taking a dig at an American media report that replaces China with India as the next big frontier for US tech companies, an article in a state-run Chinese daily said India was “not even close” to where China was five years ago.
“India lags behind China in the fields of manufacturing, logistics and infrastructure by more than five years. Apart from the hardware, the key actually lies in the integration and openness of markets and in this respect China is more accomplished than India,” said an article in the Global Times.
“For instance, the states of India all have set their own varied taxes and multiple payments have to be made when commodities circulate between states. Unifying the taxes of commodities and services has been called on for years, but this is always blocked in Parliament. Even Modi cannot overcome this. In this circumstance, it is hard to forge ahead with developing an Internet economy,” the article said.
“India’s Internet economy will not advance rapidly, let alone become the main driving force for India’s economy unless the country enhances the openness and competitiveness of its overall economy, integrates markets effectively and builds a base for primary and intermediate manufacturing,” it said.
“If this cannot be done, Modi’s plan of making ‘Digital India’ will be just empty talk. From this perspective, India is not even close to where China was five years ago,” it said.
It is the development of China’s manufacturing that has laid a foundation for the rapid expansion of Internet economy, the daily said.
“Shopping online after all requires the provision of commodities. What India needs is an all-round and multi-layered manufacturing industry that can adapt to changes and be competitive,” it said.
“Undisputedly India has huge potential in terms of population and Internet use. But the development of the Internet economy doesn’t solely depend on large population and it is not decided by factors like the number of
mobile phones in use and Internet surfers,” it said. PTI