China-India Investment Seminars a Big Hit

May 28, 2010 Posted by China Briefing Reading Time: 4 minutes

May 28 – The China-India seminars held this week by Dezan Shira & Associates in Shanghai and Beijing made a mark in their respective cities with over two hundred people attending each. The fully booked seminar section was divided between three speakers.

Chris Devonshire-Ellis of Dezan Shira & Associates was first to speak, describing the differences between China and India. Noting that in 1990, India’s GDP had been at a ratio of 89 percent of China’s at the time, he described the paths both countries took over the following two decades, which saw India’s GDP fall to a ratio of just 25 percent of China’s. Citing the improvements made over the past five years, he offered insights into the now rapid development in India and described and introduced a number of projects to illustrate that India’s fortunes are now well on the rebound, and that the country is catching up fast with China. Describing China and India as “not either/or,” he finished by stating that the two countries would provide growth for multinationals of ten percent plus for the next decade and that investments in both should be expanded. To miss out on India now, he stated, “would be the equivalent of ignoring the China market fifteen years ago.”The second speaker was Manjeet Kripalani, of Gateway House India, an Indian foreign policy think tank. Ms. Kripalani is a renowned Indian journalist and commentator, having won the Gerald Loeb award, George Polk award and Daniel Pearl awards in 2004, as well as previously being deputy chief of reporters for Forbes in New York and BusinessWeek’s Indian bureau chief. Her presentation compared China and India’s international development, and linked the two with the on-going development of Africa, recognizing that both countries had managed to introduce Africa into the global supply chain over the past ten years. Pointing out that China’s political structure was one-off and unique as the sole one party state of significance, she emphasized that India’s democracy was the only real exportable system and that such democratic processes helped find negotiable solutions to international and regional problems in a manner that a one party system lacked.Mark Hannant of Veri Mumbai explains India business to a packed audience

Mark Hannant, CEO of Veri Corporate Communications in Mumbai completed the sessions, with descriptions based on his own personal experience of setting up and operating a business in India. While noting that the bureaucracy was awkward, he also said that some of the problems in India were due to demand outstripping supply. With overseas Indians increasingly returning to India rather than seeking opportunities in the West, he predicted that a new generation of Indians had emerged on the back of parents who had built a nation from independence, and that the “can do” attitude of modern Indians were creating a business elite that would have a global impact. India, he felt, was frustrating at times, but the ultimate rewards and excitement of a resurging nation were definitely abundant.

Traditional Indian dance performed by Chinese ballerinas

The evening was supported by displays of Indian dancing carried out by a troupe of Chinese dancers who will also perform for the Indian and Chinese presidents at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing this evening to mark the state dinner of the visiting Indian President to China.

The Shanghai and Beijing events were made possible through the kind support of our sponsors: The Times of India, Lexis Nexis, Nottingham University Business School China, Incredible India, Dezan Shira & Associates, China Daily, China International Business, Shanghai Business Review, That’s Shanghai, eChinacities, New Concept Mandarin, The Grand Hyatt, , Sunrise Travel, Rose Duke, Urban 18, Kocoon Spa Lounge & Elixirs, and The Wine Republic.

Delight as a member of PricewaterhouseCoopers attending the Beijing event wins the top raffle prize of a return flight from Beijing to Delhi. The Shanghai event's first prize was a return flight to Mumbai.

We are grateful to our sponsors, the speakers and the guests who attended, all of which made both events such a success.