Slashdot Mirror
India, the World's Second Largest Internet Market, Is Turning Its Back on Silicon Valley (venturebeat.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: For years, India has wanted foreign companies to thrive in the country. When the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took power in 2014, one of its early major pushes was to formulate plans and structure incentives to attract foreign investment. In 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled plans to liberalize the foreign investment rules. He also visited the U.S. and met with top Silicon Valley executives, nearly all of whom subsequently expanded their commitments in India. It further introduced lofty incentives to encourage companies to participate in Make in India and Digital India, a set of state-run initiatives to drive job growth in the nation.
[...] But over the past year, in the run-up to the general elections in May, the Indian government has unveiled -- and in many cases, enforced -- a wave of sweeping changes. It now dictates how foreign companies handle and make use of Indian user data and other aspects of how ecommerce platforms operate, and it is working on introducing greater oversight for technology platforms. [...] Lobby groups that represent U.S. companies and industry watchers say they see an extreme shift from the "warm, welcoming, collaborative" approach the government exhibited in 2014. "In the past year or so, the engagement has been combative, with abrupt, disruptive policy changes that are being held without consultation, and, unusually, with absolutely no room for negotiation or even deadline extensions -- as we saw with data localisation and FDI in ecommerce," Prasanto K Roy, a technology and policy analyst, told VentureBeat. The story also looks at how much revenue Silicon Valley companies that count India as one of their biggest markets is generating there. Spoiler alert: it's very little.
[...] But over the past year, in the run-up to the general elections in May, the Indian government has unveiled -- and in many cases, enforced -- a wave of sweeping changes. It now dictates how foreign companies handle and make use of Indian user data and other aspects of how ecommerce platforms operate, and it is working on introducing greater oversight for technology platforms. [...] Lobby groups that represent U.S. companies and industry watchers say they see an extreme shift from the "warm, welcoming, collaborative" approach the government exhibited in 2014. "In the past year or so, the engagement has been combative, with abrupt, disruptive policy changes that are being held without consultation, and, unusually, with absolutely no room for negotiation or even deadline extensions -- as we saw with data localisation and FDI in ecommerce," Prasanto K Roy, a technology and policy analyst, told VentureBeat. The story also looks at how much revenue Silicon Valley companies that count India as one of their biggest markets is generating there. Spoiler alert: it's very little.
A couple bad actors ruin the trust for everyone.
Facebook and the likes have amassed a lot of power. An open market is a fair practice, but it is incredibly important that every country tries to build their own ecosystem of tech companies. It's unfathomable to imagine five U.S. companies dominating in most markets.
So, Europe imposes user protection and they are progressive champions of the people, but India imposes user protection and they are a backwards second world nation who doesn't know how to operate in the global economy, is that it?
It looks like India is making a fair demand from Silicon Valley companies. When it invited them with open arms it was expected that the warms would be reciprocated It looks like India is making a fair demand from Silicon Valley companies. When it invited them with open arms it was expected that the warms would be reciprocated.
It is not one way street, that all companies get access to Indian markets and India don't even get a say on their users data security and privacy. Expecting financial data of Indian users to be stored locally is a reasonable demand. Another regulation that separates market place and manufacturer i.e., restrict monopoly power of market place provider is also reasonable. It provides level playing field to everybody.
If Silicon Valley companies expected to be given open field without any regulations, then it can be only termed as their fault. If they term this as turning back on Silicon Valley, it is their choice.
It is expected that companies like Twitter and Facebook remain impartial in the upcoming elections. Not take any sides and try to meddle in the election processes. Otherwise, they will have to be ready to face more stronger regulations.
How is that different than here in the US?
It is completely different. I have lived in America for more than 5 decades. Here is the number of times I have paid a bribe for anything, ever: 0.
Personal bribes are rare in the US. Our pay-to-play system is beyond the reach of your average wage earner.
Corruption happens primarily in secret and between the most powerful and wealthy. This is different than some countries where it can be normal to pay a police officer a "fine" that he pockets. Try that in the US and you'll not have a nice day.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
You made the amazing point.
Mao destroyed China. First the Great Famine. Then the Cultural Revolution removing the intelligencia. 1976 China was impoverished of both money and culture and any quality of life. India was democratic, free, and its economy growing due to the green revolution.
Then Mao dies, the Deng Xiaoping revolution happens and China takes off. From a base of nothing, to what it is today. Truly amazing.
There is something deeply ingrained in Chinese culture that Mao could not kill and India does not have to make money. And as a result, despite the authoritarian issues that we find repulsive, the average poor Chinese lives much better than the average poor Indian.
The future may not be so bright for China. Xi Jinping's counter-reformation cannot be good for Chinese business in the longer term. And certainly not if they take on an aggressive foreign policy, in which case he could take down the entire world.
But for now, something about China is much, much more effective than the way things are done in India.
I definitely don't think this is going to matter one way or another. I actually have a fair bit of experience doing business in India, and it amounts to this: whatever someone will pay you in the US or EU, take a tenth of that and that's the MOST you will get from Indian users. I used to sell medical device coatings that would cost $20-$75/per coating per device. That's more than most people in India pay for the WHOLE device in most cases, depending. I sell courses online for $200/pc on my personal site. Indians offer about $20 for them, and still ask for discounts. I teach courses for a company that charges roughly $3,000 per person to have me teach them for three days, and we never go to India because there's no one in the whole country that would pay that. They keep trying to get us to go there for like 20 bucks a person. Not gonna happen. The reason for this is money is on a completely different scale there. A white collar professional makes about $600 to $1,000/month. That's considered good money. I tried to break a 1000 rupee note at a hotel concierge once (roughly equivalent to a 20-dollar bill), and they didn't have enough money in their entire cash register to do it. You can't make real money in India. If you do anything there at all, you do it because you want to help.