India may replace U.S. as China's trading partner
By siliconindia   |   Tuesday, 16 June 2009, 16:07 IST   |    8 Comments
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India may replace U.S. as China's trading partner
Bangalore: Despite the hostilities and long border dispute that saw the two nations go to war in 1962, China is India's biggest trading partner in Asia, reports Reuters. Few companies like Tata Consultancy Services hope that these ties could the countries offset the impact of the financial slowdown as business with the U.S. and Europe is at stake as they are hit hard by the recession. This is a sign of the new global economic trends as BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries grow in wealth and power. When TCS set up a development centre in Hangzhou in China, one of the requests it had for the city's Vice Mayor was for vegetarian food. In less than three months, an Indian restaurant was opened in the eastern Chinese city for TCS's Indian workers. This is a sign of the high precedence China has given to the developing business ties with India. "The Chinese government has always rolled out the red carpet for us," said Girija Pande, Head of TCS, Asia Pacific. "Entering China was part of our emerging markets strategy. And now we have seen that not only is growth faster, they've also fared better in the crisis." Bilateral trade between China and India is currently valued at about $38 billion and as forecasted by Goldman Sachs, by 2020 India has the potential to export $157 billion in goods and services to China. "There are several large Chinese firms like Huawei and Haier that are going global. And everyone knows India and China are where the next multinationals will emerge," Pande said, referring to Huawei Technologies. Although business in auto manufacturing, textiles and chemicals has grown, it is in IT that the two are especially complementary. China has taken over Japan in textiles, chemicals and IT and is soon expected to replace the U.S. as India's top trading partner. "Let's admit it: China is a large opportunity," said N. Chandrasekhar, Chief Operating Officer at TCS."Yes, there will be conflicts and challenges, but the opportunity is so huge."

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