INDIAN ELEPHANT AND CHINESE DRAGON:

Indian gurus commanded high respect in China when the country was learning Buddhism more than 1,500 years ago.....

In fast growing economies like India, the growth opportunities are not restricted to large caps alone but are available to every company in India. Hence as an investment strategy one must invest in mid cap companies and wait to see it become large caps.

However, at the present moment, the US $13 trillion debt is a matter of great concern....The US is also projected to have a US$1.56 tn budget deficit in 2011....Europe is still licking its wounds.

In such a scenario India and China reigns supreme. An analyst of a foreign brokerage firm who calls India an elephant and China is a Dragon, has this to say,

"The dragon is all fire. But let us remember it is still a mythical creature and not REAL BUT THE INDIAN ELEPHANT IS REAL AND KICKING. BUT I FEEL IT DOES NOT KNOW ITS OWN STRENGTH. THE DAY IT DOES............IT MIGHT TRAMPLE ANYONE THAT COMES ITS WAY".

Therefore, as the world's largest growing economy that has set its eyes on catching up with the USA and Japan, has China got a lesson or two to learn from its Asian neighbor and old-time 'guru' India in building a modern economy??

Pan Song, author of "What Can China Learn From India", says India may surpass its neighbor as the fastest growing country in the near future,and it is time the dragon recognizes the elephant as a competitor and learns from the old "shifu" (master) a lesson or two.

"China always keeps its eyes on catching up with the US, UK and Japan. But it has yet to realize that its Asian neighbor India, whose year-on-year economic growth has averaged 8-9% in the last decade, is actually becoming China's largest competitor," said Pan Song.

"China must have a sense of urgency as well as a sense of crisis from today and Chinese enterprises must try their best to learn as much as possible from the experiences of their Indian counterparts," he said, citing recent studies that projected the likelihood of India's growth rate surpassing China's by 2020.

Pan, who worked as the regional director of a Chinese company in Indian cities like New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, and Hyderabad for more than a decade compiled his experience in his book making a strong case that "astounding" performances being posted by Indian private sector offered greater lessons for China.

"Indian gurus commanded high respect in China when the country was learning Buddhism more than 1, 500 years ago. But do the Chinese still have anything to learn from their old shifu (Chinese term for master) when it comes to building a modern economy? Pan Song says.

"The core advantage of India are its private enterprises, which contributed over 85% to the economy. India currently has 33 world-class private enterprises. Their astounding performance is the best lesson for Chinese enterprises," he said in an interview with the China Daily.

According to Pan, Chinese enterprises should learn from their Indian counterparts' innovative spirit,experience in global operations, skills in M&A, and the unique way of training managerial elites in the era of globalization.Since the process of economic liberalization began in 1991,the leaders of India's private businesses have articulated inspiring visions and mobilized their enterprises to achieve internationalization.

Pan focuses on three Indian sectors that have made great progress in the last two decades -- IT, Pharma and Financial Services. He also points out success stories in each of the sectors that Chinese companies can learn from....

Infosys, which started with only $250,has now become the so-called Indian Microsoft, while Ranbaxy is the first Indian multinational pharmaceutical company, it cites. It also cites the example of ICICI Bank which is the largest private bank in India with the largest market value. With strong support from the government and banks, an increasing number of Chinese enterprises are looking beyond their horizon to invest.

Soon many of them could join the "Going Global" race, but they still lack experience in internationalizing operations and management.That's why we should learn from Indian private enterprises, he said.