Jennifer Blanke, Chief Economist, World Economic Forum, has written and lectured extensively on issues related to national competitiveness. A PhD in international economics, Blanke has served as lead editor on a number of regional and topical reports related to economic growth and development. She spoke on India’s competitiveness and the challenges it faces.
Edited excerpts:
Q: The government has started several initiatives under its Skill India programme. Do you think these would work?
A: This is the time to integrate it in. At a time when the US and Canada are working on how to improve their educational systems, India can get on the bandwagon and figure out what is it that we could do differently so we don’t make the same mistakes, at the stage of programming itself.
Q: What you think about the buzz around start-ups? On one hand, these companies are valued at billions of dollars, while on the other the smaller manufacturing businesses that can create jobs are continuing to struggle for capital…
A: It is a tough question. The other thing is a lot of companies that are being built on the digital economy don’t have very many employees. That is a big question. I think a lot of questions are raised about so-called unicorns because you are not sure what they are until they actually get coded. But, there is something good in the dynamism they bring about. There are so many start-ups in the US started by brilliant Indians. You want those to be started up here. Not that everything will always be perfect. But, if you have that “can do” attitude, which Indians really have, you need to make sure you have the right structure in place to ensure that they can do it here and they don’t leave.
Q: Many of them bet on the 1.2 billion number, but are now realising that the purchasing power of a majority of this population is much lower…
A: That story is going to die down now. It is very hard. It is very hard to even comment on that. Who knows some will work, some won’t. If you know which one, you are gonna be rich.
Q: Unlike China, where protectionism helped local start-ups grow big, the Amazons and Ubers are here directly. Can Indian start-ups survive them?
A: In the long run, that competition is good. Whatever is built should be able to compete abroad. If you are a billion-dollar business you have to be built to go elsewhere, not just in India.
Source: Business Standard
