Is China productive? Is India productive? (Article 2)

(Image by Jeevan Singla from Pixabay)

Article 2

"Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.” ~ Stephen King

True. It’s time to just get up and do the work !

What we do

The commitment - In India, we talk too much (as one of my S. Korean friends used to always say!). We discuss, debate, criticise… a lot! Well, it is a sign of good democracy & freedom.

But when it comes to deliver something, it is a different story… We do not debate, discuss, plan…. We tend to give a quick commitment that pleases the customer. Many times, we know, it is not going to really work! And then, if we fail in keeping the commitment, we give excuses!

This is in sharp contrast with a Japanese person. A Japanese will never give a commitment, unless he/she has studied the requirement, done some planning, checked the resources. It takes some time. But when he/she commits, it is a ‘Commitment’ and it cannot fail!

We need to quickly adapt this, if we want to grab the great business opportunity the world is giving us today.

The Time factor - The other important aspect is the ‘Time’. China scores over us on this point!

I have seen mega projects happening in scheduled time in China. I remember, when I first visited a power equipment manufacturer in Chengdu, there was a flyover getting constructed there. When I visited Chengdu again in six months, it was done – a neat and clean work!

I compare it with the speed at which Indian projects get implemented. Usually, bridges, dams, stadiums, highways… all get delayed & there is cost overrun! This effectively means, China perhaps builds 2 or 3 bridges or stadiums at the cost of one in India. I therefore appreciate the speed at which the current Indian government is working on this front and especially the roads that are getting built at a much faster pace – an incredibly good sign!

(See below a huge bridge in North India)

When a country produces something saleable, it is ‘productivity’ – it brings in money to the country. Again here, we waste a lot of nation’s time, money, and speed of growth. Imagine the effects of agitations, strikes, court cases, frequent elections on nations productivity (yes, to my mind, frequent elections is a big waste, as a lot of work comes to standstill due to lack of decision making & the so called- ‘model code of conduct’ being imposed. All elections in the country should happen at once, at a frequency of 5 years).

China has been working hard with good speed of execution, relentlessly for few decades! If we want to bridge that gap, we need to work even faster, because China has not slowed down on this count!

Who needs to change?

The Media - There is a lesson to be learnt by Indian media. The media needs to shoulder the responsibility of promoting positivity in the country. There are lots of good things happening around us – media needs to give priority to positivity. If a government wants to work on a big project, media needs to support it & not resist it with unproductive, vested interests.

The Bureaucracy and the Judiciary - A lot depends on the bureaucracy as well. The bureaucracy needs to speed up things of national interest. The judicial system should take up issues related to big projects on priority to avoid stalling of these projects.

The Industry – The mots important of all is our industry, which is the backbone of growth – it needs to lead the path. The MSME sector and bigger industries – all need to work hand in hand. The media, bureaucracy and all political parties need to ensure that there are no hurdles in their growth, as industry contributes the most in the growth of a country and provides jobs to billions!

Leading the world

India has a great potential to become world’s superpower & can lead the world in an incredibly positive way, given our ancient history and culture.

A lot depends on our ‘desire to grow’ than our ‘resistance to China’. Why think of others when we can set our house in order & become great again for sure!

In the next article, we will see if the Industry is indeed capable of taking the challenges and what are the positives about Indian industry that can indeed take the country ahead of others.