Ignoring Indian talent China’s mistake: Global Times

Chides Beijing for attaching too much importance to workforce from the U.S. and Europe

A worker on the job inside the P4 epidemiological laboratory in Wuhan, capital of China’s Hubei province, on February 23, 2017. A ‘Global Times’ report has said China’s S&T talent pool was not large and flexible enough to meet the demand for the rapid expansion of innovation capability even as it acknowledged the importance of Indian high-tech talent.

Ignoring Indian talent and attaching too much importance to the workforce from the United States and Europe was China’s mistake, a Chinese daily said on Friday.

However, the editorial in Global Times caustically said it was way cheaper to hire Indians as “the cost of employing an Indian engineer is just half the cost of hiring a Chinese worker.”

The paper said wooing high-tech talent from India would help China in innovation.

Wooing S&T talent

“China has perhaps not been working hard enough to attract science and technology talent from India to work in the country,” the daily said.

“Over the past few years, China witnessed an unprecedented boom in tech jobs as the country became an attractive destination for foreign research and development centres. China has made the mistake of ignoring Indian talent, and instead has attached a greater importance to talent coming from the US and Europe,” it said.

Citing some reports, the paper said: “The cost of employing an Indian engineer is just half the cost of hiring a Chinese worker, which means Indians could see their revenue more than double if they came to work in China.

“However, now some high-tech firms are turning their attention from China to India due to the latter’s relatively low labour costs. Attracting high-tech talent from India could be one of China’s options for maintaining its innovation ability,” it added.

India increasingly attractive

The report cited how an American software firm had shut its research and development team of 300 people unit and set up a unit in India with some 2,000 professionals.

“With a sufficient young talent pool, India is becoming increasingly attractive. China cannot afford to risk a decline in its attractiveness for high-tech investors. The nation is among the third echelon in cutting-edge technology fields and is working to catch up with the U.S. and the result of its efforts will decide whether China will maintain its status as an emerging global economic power,” it said.

China’s talent pool not enough

The report said China’s talent pool was not large and flexible enough to meet the demand for the rapid expansion of innovation capability.

“Some enterprises in Guizhou province provide convenience for Indian talent in terms of housing, insurance and transportation who could enjoy a much better standard of living in [China] than in Bangalore,” it said.