The MBA Curriculum : India Inc.

I wrote a couple of days back about China Inc. and how it is important to understand China.

One thing is sure, we all need to face China and its companies in many difference aspects. The best way to prepare the future leaders of the global world is to 'understanding china" and helping them prepare to work in, work with and work against Chinese companies.

Hence, understanding China should be part of the MBA Curriculum.

What about India? I mentioned that Since I have lived all my life in India I have a fairly decent idea of India. What about others who need to understand India? Before that is there a reason to believe that India needs to be understood and is a possible economic world force to worry about.

William Pesek Jr., writing in Bloomberg, certainly thinks so.

The biggest industrialized nations haven't exactly said India will play second fiddle to China; they invited Asia's No. 4 and No. 2 economies to their Feb. 4 meeting. Yet the G-7's almost linear focus on China and its currency policy leave little doubt about which one it's betting on. Ditto for the policy-making elite attending this year's World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The future size of the Chinese and Indian economies isn't just an academic issue. Their trajectories will say much about the migration of capital. As Chinese and Indian bond and stock markets grow along with gross domestic product, G-7 members may have a harder time remaining on investors' radar screens.

Yet G-7 ministers should think twice before downplaying India's potential relative to China's. Investors, too.

Yet Daniel Lian, Singapore-based economist at Morgan Stanley, can think of at least two reasons not to count India out. One, the world has a dismal record of predicting the next economic mega- trend. Two, India could spring a few significant surprises that haven't entered the calculations of global investors.

Enter India, which has a measure of economic and political stability it will take China years to develop. India, for all its warts, isn't preoccupied by such risks. Its troubles include a massive national debt, high poverty, an inefficient and bureaucratic government and dodgy infrastructure. Yet India's progress in creating a living, breathing economy is more impressive than China's. It has an entrepreneurial spirit that produced Infosys Technologies Ltd., Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. and Wipro Ltd.

India's markets are also far more developed. China, for example, doesn't have much of a bond market, while India does. Indian companies have big head start and a significant advantage when it comes to raising capital in the debt markets. What China must build from scratch, India already has up and running.

A big push into export-oriented manufacturing also is underway in India. While China is clearly ahead on that count, India's efforts could pay important dividends in the area of poverty reduction. It's a means of creating jobs for those without the skills to enter India's software and call-center industries.

Also, Lian says, the West ultimately could favor India over China. Reasons include India's well-established Western-style democracy, the belief it's better equipped to protect intellectual property rights and the view of China a geopolitical competitor.

So in case you are not thinking about India you better start doing it now. You do not want to miss the boat, do you?