India not the Future China

Folks,

Many people view India as the future China. While this is already true for help centers and telecommunications technology, for electronic assembly, India lacks several critical requirements. This situation has been recently discussed in detail in Buisness Week and more recently in Purchasing.com.

Although India has favorable wages and most of its professionals speak excellent English, it has poor transportation infrastructure, and lacks reliable electrical power. One of my best friends, who has spent months in China, was shaken by the poor airports and almost unpassable roads in a recent visit to many major Indian cities. Government red tape is also a problem.

A major committment is needed by the Indian government to work with industry to resolve these challenges. It will likely take more than a generation.

So I expect electronic hardware production in India to be slow in growing.

Cheers,

Dr. Ron