Is China’s loss a gain for India? Will Google’s exit from China, citing censorship concerns, lead to a transfer of more
investments and more jobs to India?
The answer is not as simple as the question. Google executives remained tight-lipped about the issue. A senior executive at the company says: “Our investments in India are independent of developments in China.”
Adds Achen Jakher, Svelte Systems CEO, an IT advisory firm: “Europe is coming out of the economic slowdown; Google may consider increasing its presence in the European market.”
“India may be a big market that is growing fast but it is in no position to replace China,” says Diptarup Chakraborti, principal research analyst at Gartner, a leading global IT research firm.
Consider this: Internet penetration in India stands at 50 million; the comparable figure for China is eight times larger – at 400 million. Around 13 per cent people use the internet in India compared to 27 per cent in China. And 34 Indian cities can be classified as having a heavy internet penetration, compared to more than 100 cities in China.