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Google to Invest $10B in India

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Re: Google to Invest $10B in India

#51

Post by TLightful »

flippedbit wrote: post #22
kjaftaedi wrote: post #10

Google has been funneling around 20 billion dollars yearly through Bermuda to evade taxes using the infamous 'irish double sandwich'. Pressure from the US and EU is finally forcing Ireland to change their laws. Google is in a situation when they have money that they need to figure out a plan for since they can't do as much tax evasion as they previously were permitted to. https://www.caymancompass.com/2020/01/02/goog…

Tax minimization is a form of tax avoidance rather than tax evasion (Not saying it’s good, rather just that google weren’t breaking any laws).

"My dear wife, please believe me ... we weren't having a sexual affair, I was just getting a BJ"

Re: Google to Invest $10B in India

#52

Post by ankit219 »

frequentnapper wrote: post #24
amrrs wrote: post #3

There's been a recent surge in American companies investing in India primarily through Reliance Jio (owned by Mukhesh Ambani who's got a good connect with the current ruling Government). It's been spiking since the Anti-China sentiment led Buy and Use 'Made in India' cries. Government has even asked eCom Flipkart and Amazon to display Country of Origin for each product. With all these, This investment from Google see…

I don't see how it's not alarming for Indians that one key person/company connected to the govt is the sole beneficiary of incoming businesses into India.

There is a cause for alarm, and some Indians do see that as a threat. Right now, Indian society is caught in a deep web of fake news, false narratives, and the conflating of what the govt is, what the nation is, and the difference between the two. Many competitors have raised a lot of questions about how Jio did not follow the rules (there are a lot to link) the basic one being a rule about giving free plans for more than three months (which was not allowed by TRAI - Indian telecom regulatory authority - previously). but nothing happened, and people were happy with free internet. A lot of these issues are buried under loads of information on the many 24 hour news channels (two of them owned by Mukesh Ambani himself) and then the web of Whatsapp and other online social media helping to shape a narrative.

Then there is an average indian feeling pride about how Jio is able to attract such investments. So, some of us may have considered it, and would have spoken about it, but a lot are not really aware. When people do speak against these, they are usually tagged as cynical or contrarian because speaking against a public figure in India is sometimes considered speaking against India.

P.S. Sorry for being so vague, but this requires a lot of context to ascertain why it is this way. I dont blame whatsapp or Facebook, just that we are a vulnerable bunch and usually believe what we want to believe.

Re: Google to Invest $10B in India

#53

Post by fny »

peterwwillis wrote: post #36
buran77 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Companies don't invest billions in India to shaft China, they're doing it to maintain or grow their position on the Indian market, which is a huge one. If India suddenly sees a wave of "build it at home" sentiment then Google or Apple won't want to be left out and fall behind the competition. Publicly traded companies can't afford to play favorites, they "have to" go where the profits are and make the best of it, whe…

> they're doing it to maintain or grow their position on the Indian market That's not the main reason for moving manufacturing. You move manufacturing to exploit lower prices in the production chain (and other logistical considerations). It's why one $10 t-shirt is produced by work in 10 different countries, and why that too is constantly shifting. It's harder to "shift" a massive centralized tech industrial manufact…

This isn't about manufacturing.

This is $10B for /digital/ services. Google dreams of being allowed into that market. The Great Firewall prevents it outright.

Re: Google to Invest $10B in India

#54

Post by imtringued »

mcny wrote: post #20
mytailorisrich wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US will act against any threats to their position. Although India has the potential to be a threat, so far it hasn't been and the more the US can invest in India and 'own' large swathes of key industries the better for the US but someday India may wake up to the fact that their economy is, or can be, larger than the US's and start acting accordingly.

China PR makes me question a lot of things. For example, I’ve always been told that protectionism doesn’t work but with the great firewall it seems to work just fine in China PR. How do I explain it?

Protectionism only works in specific situations. For example you have a competent workforce and instead of making them work in a foreign country because that's where the multinational companies are, you introduce protectionist policies to keep them in your country. Getting to this point requires decades of focused efforts. You don't just introduce protectionism and get results automatically. Protectionism doesn't work because you have to make it work.

It's a bait and switch. Get foreign investors to build companies in your country. Let them pay for training. Children can now go to school and university. They become adults and gain experience during their job. They now want to leave the country for higher incomes (jackpot). Then finally give them a reason to stay. The Chinese government has amassed an insane amount of money and growth during their business friendly periods and is now able to deploy it for protectionist measures.

The reason why protectionism is a bad idea is that it's commonly used in incompetent governments that are prone to corruption before the country is ready. They instate the protectionism before the country has formed a competitive industry. The end result is that consumers have to pay hefty tariffs on foreign products that are almost impossible to replicate domestically like GPUs or CPUs. Alternatively consumers are stuck with inferior domestic products because there is no reason for the domestic monopoly to improve without competition.

Re: Google to Invest $10B in India

#55

Post by mikkelam »

totalZero wrote: post #47
fiblye wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

India is generally more culturally and politically similar to the west than China. Unless they decide to embark on some unexpected imperialist conquest, I don’t think they’ll have such an active movement to divest from them in the future.

India is so culturally dissimilar to the USA that it's almost laughable to suggest that they are similar. I'm not trying to be adversarial; I just don't see any logical basis -- aside from a few years of anglophone rule -- for your premise.

OP said more similar as opposed to "completely similar" which you are implying.

India definitely is more of a western country when compared to China

Re: Google to Invest $10B in India

#56

Post by zozbot234 »

mytailorisrich wrote: post #26
mcny wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China PR makes me question a lot of things. For example, I’ve always been told that protectionism doesn’t work but with the great firewall it seems to work just fine in China PR. How do I explain it?

Protectionism works when you're weak and try to develop your own industry (all East Asian countries followed that path). Protectionism hinders you if you're strong and try to penetrate other countries' markets. Protectionism is often detrimental to consumers. Nothing is black and white.

East Asian development was not based on protectionism, it was based on providing goods/services for export (even when "weak") which requires openness to competition on a global scale. Protectionism was tried in Latin America and even in India prior to the 1980s and 1990s, and it has consistently been a failure.

Re: Google to Invest $10B in India

#57

Post by LatteLazy »

totalZero wrote: post #44
bamboozled wrote: post #4

Getting the feeling China has blown it and successful companies looking to expand into Asia are now looking at India instead. I also saw that Foxconn is looking to build Apple products in India now too.

If China has indeed "blown it," there's no imperative reason that India must be the subsequent option. Several other markets offer cheap labor and friendly host government policies toward foreign manufacturers.

(not OP) That's true, but Modi is riding a nationalist wave. If you're Google and you're worried about having too much invested in China AND being kicked out of India for investing too little, this would be killing 2 birds with one stone...

Re: Google to Invest $10B in India

#58

Post by sbmthakur »

mango_indian wrote: post #8

Any idea on the split, what is 10 billion going to, devlopers? Apps? Infra?, What vague shit is this ecosystem..

The entire amount is not being invested in one go. It will be invested in the next 5-7 years. They probably don't have the department wise breakup at the moment.

Re: Google to Invest $10B in India

#59

Post by iamgopal »

LatteLazy wrote: post #48

It's hard to know what's going on here. Will it actually be 10bn? Only time will tell... Doing what (sales, dev, support, research)? Is this new productive activity or just outsourcing? Why? Is this hedging the risks of China sanctions/user rejection? or the risks of Indian nationalism? or honestly wanting a more local input on the Indian market/economy? or a moral decision given China going from bad to worse? Is it…

My Guess is datacenter, as it is quite long time since Indian gov want google,fb etc to have local data local.

Re: Google to Invest $10B in India

#60

Post by nodelessness »

m0zg wrote: post #46

Is there even a way for Google to invest in a high-corruption country like India without paying bribes (which would break US anti-bribery laws)? I'm pretty sure such an investment would be impossible in e.g. Russia, where many a hand needs to be greased before anything can happen.

They've been doing business in a high corruption country for over 20 years so I think they will manage.
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