Posted by:
Leslie Chua
Head of Corporate Research, Corporate Solutions, Asia Pacific

If the global financial crisis has taught us anything, India and China are now the darlings of consumerism and increasingly the most exciting markets for corporates to penetrate. One half of the infamous “BRIC”, they are thriving on domestic-led expansion.

After speaking with others at today’s session “Asian Mega Cities: The Shape of Things to Come” I’m convinced that China may have the edge. Our online poll seems to indicate that you agree with me as over 70% of you think that China will emerge from the downturn first.

While infrastructure availability may constrain rapid growth in India, China has been heavily investing for over 20 years. Governance and mechanisms to finance urban expansion appear more advanced in China -- and it is the faster growing consumer of commodities, cars, electrical appliances and new homes – in many cases several homes!

India on the other hand is riding the new wave of offshoring. More companies are looking towards India to offshore in an effort to remain competitive as they move into recovery mode. The prevalence of a younger, English-speaking population suggests that India is on its way to being a powerhouse of its own.

Read more in our latest Global Market Perspective, A BRIC built recovery?

Leslie

The Rebound of Real Estate Markets in China

Posted by:
Sahel Pramendra
Regional Managing Director, India

We started the Summit on Tuesday with cocktail networking organized by CoreNet. I caught up with many clients and (the folks back home) will be proud with the number of business cards that I managed to collect.

There is a lot of talk about the growth story in Asia. At yesterday’s opening session it was interesting to note that our two biggest economies, China and India, account for only 10% of the world economy. No matter how much we want to, we cannot assume that Asia is de coupled from the rest of the world. While the global economy has shown some signs of recovery recently, sentiments could be misleading. It may be seven to eight years before we begin to see real global growth again.

There has always been interesting debate around India and China and I was surprised to see the experts favoring India in many ways. This is because the consumption pattern in India is 57% compared to 33% in China. India therefore boasts a bigger domestic market and greater incumbent demand. China on the other hand depends quite heavily on its exports to the US, which puts China in a delicate position.

While China has been on the radar of every CEO in the West, the sentiments of CEOs who have spent few years in China are not always equally bullish.

Sahel

p.s. Check out our latest India Office Map for more on current trends in India

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