India far ahead of China in IT but Chinese firms catching up on IT tech: Chinese IT expert
Beijing, Dec 11: India's IT sector, one of the mainstays of its economy, is much ahead of its Chinese counterpart in the global markets but the firms from China are catching up and doing well in e-commerce, autonomous driving, AI and cloud services, according to a top Chinese IT executive.
Mike Liu, the author of the book titled 'The Rise of Indian IT', said unlike the Indian firms, who still have a sway in the global markets, especially in IT outsourcing, China's software revenue is mostly from home.
Over 95 per cent of China's IT earnings come from the domestic Chinese market, he said.
"In the global IT market, India is leading much ahead of Chinese market players," he said.
"The Chinese companies are not a threat to the Indian firms in the global markets," Mike, one of the rare Chinese IT executives who worked with the top Indian company Infosys for years, told PTI here ahead of his book launch.
The book that provides an insight into the Indian and Chinese information technology development over the decades has been just published in the Chinese language. It will be published in English soon.
Mike was the first Chinese-born country head of Infosys and worked both in Indian and Chinese firms, besides multinational companies like HP.
According to a recent report by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), China's software business revenue from January to July this year reached 5.456 trillion yuan (USD 797.26 billion), a year-on-year increase of 10.3 per cent.
IT sectors in both countries contribute about eight per cent to their GDPs, though China's IT revenues are far higher considering the size of the Chinese economy, Mike said.
While Indian IT firms ruled the global markets, the Chinese firms have established dominance in technology, he said.
He said the Chinese firms have a long way to go to make a dent in the global international markets.
"I foresee Chinese players still have a long learning curve to compete in English market. Chinese people often ask, why have Indians become so predominant in business in America? The typical view is Indians speak good English. But that is maybe one per cent of the factor," he said.
For their part, the Chinese companies need to learn many things such as mindset, management systems and governance, he said, adding that an abundant supply of human resources in IT was key for India's success.
He said the Indian IT phenomenon is not made possible through either deregulated efforts or government subsidies and policies but due to the strong conviction by the Indian tech leaders and software engineers to make a difference.
However, on the tech front of IT and innovation, China has taken the lead, he said.
"The scenario has changed today. The Chinese companies have become a global phenomenon in the B2B, and doing well not only in e-commerce but autonomous driving, AI, cloud services, where you don't see Indian players, unfortunately, having had the same impact," Mike said.
Chinese firms like Huawei, Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent made a big leap in technology development, while the Indian IT sector is broadly confined to software outsourcing, spending little on innovation and R&D, he said.
On India's constant complaint that China is not providing market access to Indian IT firms, he argued that the issue of market access should not be an excuse for Indian IT firms' inability to penetrate Chinese markets.
While keeping their focus on English language global markets, it is time for the Indian firms to shift their focus to non-English speaking markets such as China to rework their strategy to tap big future revenues, he said.
"The question for Indian IT companies now is how to break into fast-growing non-English speaking countries," he said.
"Market access alone is something of an easy excuse. If you are determined to engage in a market, then you will figure it out" he said, highlighting the success of firms like HP in which he worked earlier and made big inroads into the Chinese markets.
For years, China has been stonewalling Indian demand to provide market access to its biggest products in the IT and pharmaceutical firms which struggled to make headway in the Chinese markets despite their global success.
Mike argues that while the Indian IT firms are doing well in the multinational firms based in China, they made limited headway into the burgeoning Chinese market adopting a "cost-conscious" strategy and looking for short-term returns.
"You cannot have the same formula to work in two very different, highly complex markets and societies," he said.
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SC dismisses pleas seeking review of 2023 verdict declining legal sanction to same-sex marriage
New Delhi, Jan 9: The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a batch of pleas seeking to review its October 2023 verdict declining legal sanction to same-sex marriage.
A five-judge bench of Justices B R Gavai, Surya Kant, B V Nagarathna, P S Narasimha and Dipankar Datta took up about 13 petitions related to the matter in chambers and dismissed them.
"We do not find any error apparent on the face of the record. We further find that the view expressed in both the judgements is in accordance with law and as such, no interference is warranted. Accordingly, the review petitions are dismissed," the bench said.
It said the judges have carefully gone through the judgements delivered by Justice (since retired) S Ravindra Bhat speaking for himself and for Justice (since retired) Hima Kohli as well as the concurring opinion expressed by Justice Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha, constituting the majority view.
The bench also rejected a prayer made in the review petitions for hearing in an open court.
According to practice, the review pleas are considered in chambers by the judges.
The new bench was constituted after Justice Sanjiv Khanna, the present CJI, recused from hearing the review petitions on July 10, 2024.
Notably, Justice P S Narasimha is the only member of the original Constitution bench comprising five judges which delivered the verdict, as former CJI D Y Chandrachud and Justices S K Kaul, Ravindra Bhat and Hima Kohli have retired.
A five-judge Constitution bench led by then CJI Chandrachud on October 17, 2024, refused to accord legal backing to same-sex marriages and held there was "no unqualified right" to marriage with the exception of those recognised by law.
The apex court, however, made a strong pitch for the rights of LGBTQIA++ persons so that they didn't face discrimination in accessing goods and services available to others, safe houses known as "garima greh" in all districts for shelter to members of the community facing harassment and violence, and dedicated hotlines in case of trouble.
In its judgement, the bench held transpersons in heterosexual relationships had the freedom and entitlement to marry under the existing statutory provisions.
It said an entitlement to legal recognition of the right to union, akin to marriage or civil union, or conferring legal status to the relationship could be only done through an "enacted law".
The five-judge Constitution bench delivered four separate verdicts on a batch of 21 petitions seeking legal sanction for same-sex marriages.
All five judges were unanimous in refusing the legal recognition to same-sex marriage under the Special Marriage Act and observed it was within Parliament's ambit to change the law for validating such a union.
While former CJI Chandrachud wrote a separate 247-page verdict, Justice Kaul penned a 17-page judgement where he broadly agreed with the former's views.
Justice Bhat, who authored an 89-page judgement for himself and Justice Kohli, disagreed with certain conclusions arrived at by the former CJI, including on applicability of adoption rules for such couples.
Justice Narasimha in his 13-page verdict was in complete agreement with the reasoning and conclusion of Justice Bhat.
The judges were unanimous in holding that queerness was a natural phenomenon and not an "urban or elite" notion.
In his judgement, the former CJI recorded Solicitor General Tushar Mehta's assurance of forming a committee chaired by the cabinet secretary to define and elucidate the scope of entitlements of such couples in a union.
The LGBTQIA++ rights activists, who won a major legal battle in 2018 in the Supreme Court, which decriminalised consensual gay sex, moved the apex court seeking validation of same-sex marriages and consequential reliefs such as rights to adoption, enrolment as parents in schools, opening of bank accounts and availing succession and insurance benefits.
Some of the petitioners sought the apex court to use its plenary power besides the "prestige and moral authority" to push the society to acknowledge such a union and ensure LGBTQIA++ persons led a "dignified" life like heterosexuals.
