India’s dominance in IT outsourcing and its rise in the call center business is often linked to the fact that India offered a large low-cost English speaking population and that this was India’s big advantage over China. The truth is more complex and nuanced than that, but I will reserve that to a later post. Today, some Indians worry that China’s push to teach English to hundreds of millions of its citizens may threaten India’s position.
I have tremendous respect for the Chinese miracle and the success of Chinese companies and entrepreneurs in many fields. But it will be while before English speaking Chinese are a serious concerns to the Wipros and TCSes (and to the Indian heads of IBM and Accenture). English is embedded in Indian culture, society and life in a ground up organic way that Chinese leaders can order from the top in Beijing.
Here is an excerpt from a New York Times article that substantiates what I am saying, read the rest by clicking here.
Almost all advertising billboards in India are in English. There is not a single well-paying job in the country that does not require a good understanding of the language. Higher education here is conducted entirely in English. When Hindustan Pencils makes cheap pencils, which its sells to rural children for a rupee apiece (about 2 cents), the company prints the brand name, “Jobber,” in English. “A villager has more respect for a brand that is written in English,” said Dhruman Sanghvi, a company director.
Last updated: December 26th, 2025
