India is becoming 'more assertive,' says Boston Consulting Group

So look, firstly, a lot of the world is going to elections this year. Half the world is going to elections. The vote in Indonesia was for continuity. The vote in India is for continuity. So that's a good sign. That's a good sign that there is continuity going on. That means the agenda on digitization, the agenda infrastructure build out is going to continue. The bigger questions for India historically have been can they up the curve in manufacturing, which means more job creation. So that's been a big part of the agenda. And I think with the diversification that's happening in the world of economies going beyond China to other parts of the world, Vietnam is a big beneficiary of that. Bangladesh is, but India is hoping to be in certain sectors. There are some early green shoots to be seen in electronics manufacturing, many others, But I think a lot more work needs to be done on that. And I think that's firmly on the agenda. There are production linked incentives. PL. is, as they're called, being given in multiple sectors. You know, renewables is another topic, green, big agenda for the country, solar, other parts of renewable battery, all of those. So we see movements on that. But I would still like to see a lot more concerted shift, you know, in that India is also getting more assertive in terms of its putting its own point of view out there as they're getting more self confident. So I think that's the other element which you're alluding to somewhat. Yeah, it's fascinating. You mentioned Vietnam because we do have the Prime Minister here at the moment. He's one of the sort of more high profile people here at the World Economic Forum this week, you know, in terms of trade routes being redrawn, of course, Vietnam, places like Mexico also being seen as beneficiaries of that. How are you watching and what are you hearing from some of these companies around geopolitics and the impact that that's having on some of these industrial policies and trade? So trade is shifting in a major way. So firstly, we are entering an era after a long time and global trade is going to grow slower than global GDP. It has not happened for the last 30 years. It's the first time. But within that, their segments are growing a lot faster. ASEAN nations, India are beneficiaries of this trade. They're trading more with China, they're trading more with US, they're trading more with the European bloc. So Vietnam is in a sweet spot within the ASEAN nations of being a manufacturing powerhouse and also being a manufacturing beneficiary of these trade flows. But that being said, I think there's a lot more work to be done on the ground. We had a chance private session of the Prime Minister in the morning, and I think there was a discussion going on on what could be the various enablers in place. The government is very receptive and I think they're working from their side to make sure they do the needful. Yeah. And I suppose it wouldn't be helpful if, say, the US was to look after, go after third countries when it comes to some of these tariffs. If Chinese companies are looking at places like Vietnam, that wouldn't be a good thing. But I also want to pick up on Premier Li's speech yesterday because that has really opened up the debate here at the World Economic Forum about how are we looking at trade while also trying to sort of fix climate change. Because no doubt some of these efforts require huge amount of investment and you sort of get that you incentivize it through subsidies. But as we've seen, that has led to conflict. So there is still so much work to do. What are you hearing and how do we tackle that? I think that's an interesting challenge for the world in general as we have some of these polarizations happening. I think it has an economic imperative to the world because in some places US is a, you know, phenomenal force for the world is has great technology in some areas. China is a very productive force for the world, has some phenomenal technologies, particularly in renewable than other places. So how do we, if I'm a third country, how do I straddle this debate in terms of working through this is an important part of the debate. What Premier Li said yesterday, I thought on the new productive forces, not just on technologies today but also technologies of tomorrow, be it life sciences, be it quantum beat, new materials, was also very interesting. I thought in terms of China putting a lot of emphasis on becoming, being at the forefront of some of.