Former Tata Sons director Alan Rosling's message for India Inc: Up your game, the Chinese are coming

Former Tata Sons director and entrepreneur Alan Rosling on why Indian businesses need to be wary - and learn - from their Chinese counterparts.

India has always taken comfort in the fact that its democratic process and private sector gives it a distinctive advantage over its larger neighbour, China. But according to Alan Rosling, former executive director of Tata Sons (the only foreigner to hold the post) and co-founder of Kiran Energy, India needs to up its game because "the Chinese are coming".

Giving an example of the recent round of funding for a cab hailing app, which came mostly from China, Rosling said, "They [Chinese] have competitive business models, which are quite powerful. I think India still has an advantage with its private sector. But we can learn to do better from China."


Innovative leap
Rosling admitted that for years he too argued that India had advanced education facilities and software infrastructure in the private sector compared to China. "But the reality is that in the past 10 years, China has changed amazingly in the private sector. The change in entrepreneurial China has been true-blue," he said at a recent talk hosted by Asia Society in Mumbai.

For instance, Rosling said, that if one compared innovation, just last year, China had filed for more patents (1.5 million) than the US. "Not that patent application and clearance is a good measure of how truly innovative an economy is, but it's a measure," he said. "In terms of inputs in the innovation system, China, with its universities, R&D, patent applications [and] research scientists, is far ahead of anyone else, apart from the US. It's catching up with the US as well. So, it's phenomenal what's happening," he added.

Counter learning
In order to stand up to the challenge and use its advantage to the maximum, Rosling suggested that India start learning from its neighbour. Too many business leaders and government, he said, found a comparison with China insulting. But there is a comparison, he argued. "You need a benchmark and China is a pretty good benchmark for what's possible. If you want to do what's possible… you should go to China and learn as much as you can. Just as the Chinese, if they think there is something to learn, [they are] learning from us. They allowed TCS in China because they wanted to know about the one thing that we do better than China - IT outsourcing," he said.