China is good at manufacturing low-cost products, and India has also started providing low-cost products and services for the masses. Tata's Rs 1 lakh car Nano, Reliance's Rs 777 mobile handset, and HCL's Rs 14,000 Mileap laptop are examples of this. In the last few decades, India has made a name for itself in offering low-cost, high quality services and outsourcing of IT, IT-enabled services and knowledge processes. On the other hand, China is known for manufacturing products at very low-cost. It is said that 70% products on American shelves are made by American companies in China. Both India and China are leveraging on their large pool of working population.
Manufacturing of low-cost products in India is, however, different from that in China. The Chinese produce things for American and European MNCs and they do not have their own well-known MNCs. Also, the Chinese companies are criticized for piracy and dumping. The quality of Chinese products is also not up to the international standards. But the Indian manufacturers have managed, with the help of technology, to reduce the cost and, at the same time, maintain or upgrade the quality of the product or service offered. India owns big multinational companies. Four people out of the Top 10 in the Forbes list of world's richest people are Indians. The best example of a low-cost, high quality product of an Indian MNC is Tata's Nano. Many people wonder how it is possible to make such a car with a price tag of Rs 1 lakh, while sticking to Euro IV norms. |
