Time for 'Chindia' JV to combine China-India strengths: Experts

BEIJING: Backing India's demand to provide greater access to Indian IT products to address the trade imbalance, Chinese analysts have suggested "Chindia" products, combining Beijing's manufacturing might with New Delhi's expertise in software sector.

"China's strength in manufacturing, if supported by India's software, will create shining prospects for the two countries in advanced manufacturing, especially in intelligence," said Hu Shisheng, Director of the Institute of South and Southeast Asian and Oceania Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.

" China-India cooperation can also be conducted in many sector, including new energy, new materials, resource conservation and environmental protection," he told state-run China Daily today.

"India is well developed in services, including IT and software, and the future is promising for the two countries to set up joint ventures and increase mutual investments as well as trade in services, which will ease trade imbalances," he said.

"The joint ventures can build up our own brand of 'Chindia' and set up our own quality standards. Together we have a market of more than 2.7 billion customers and can test any new product," he said.

The best choice is that China's giant companies cooperate with Indian consortiums and gradually advance the regional reforms in India and improve the investment environment, he said.

India has been pressing China to open for IT and Pharmaceuticals to enable it to bridge nearly $29 billion trade imbalance last year in about $66 billion trade.

Several Indian firms including TCS, Infosys and Wipro are present in Chinese market but among them only TCS managed to penetrate the local market garnering few hundred million dollars business while the rest cater to multi-national firms.

India is also asking China to step up investments in its infrastructure development.

Experts call for more mutual investments and cooperation between large companies to tap the huge markets in both countries.