Google to Invest $10B in India • Hacker News Board

Re: Google to Invest $10B in India

#171

Post by btian » Mon, Jul 13, 2020, 2:14 PM UTC

MangoCoffee wrote: post #158

China is aging. China population https://www.populationpyramid.net/china/2020/ vs India population https://www.populationpyramid.net/india/2020/ China will never develop a consumption based economy with its aging population. It takes Europe, decades for its population to age. It only take Japan 25 years to age like Europe and China's one child policy is not helping and its on track to age like Japan. It's only a logi…

> China will never develop a consumption based economy with its aging population

Why is that the case? I assume older people consume more than younger ones, esp healthcare

Re: Google to Invest $10B in India

#172

Post by kranner » Mon, Jul 13, 2020, 2:15 PM UTC

enitihas wrote: post #160

kranner wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OK, thanks for explaining your point. I still think you're conflating Tencent with China as much as you're overestimating how well-functioning the Indian government is. In my view it is grossly incompetent beyond spreading propaganda, horse-trading MPs and MLAs to swing elections, and indeed disappearing people and killing them extra-judiciously in fake encounters. Ambani capturing everything would result in the comp…

I think you are trying to argue both sides here. If the government is not afraid of doing shady stuff, like the Chinese government, then it is free to do anything to any billionaire, and being rich doesn't get anyone any power, like China. If the government respects the rule of law, and doesn't do any extra judicial stuff, even then it makes sense to not let a competing foreign power like China be a stakeholder in yo…

If the Indian government is not afraid of contravening Indian laws, it can grab Chinese shares anyway.

If it wants to maintain the appearance of being lawful and fair, there is already an Enemy Property Act, 1968 to more or less support grabbing Chinese investments (perhaps with an amendment or two). Under what pretence would they grab Ambani's property? There is Eminent Domain in India, but only AFAIK for land ownership, and even that requires fair compensation at market prices.

Re: Google to Invest $10B in India

#173

Post by tanilama » Mon, Jul 13, 2020, 2:21 PM UTC

This isn't too much of a surprise TBH.

Google's business is stagnating in US/EU. They need to find a better place to grow.

Re: Google to Invest $10B in India

#174

Post by OJFord » Mon, Jul 13, 2020, 2:21 PM UTC

Jweb_Guru wrote: post #137

OJFord wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No tax evasion is ever permitted, by definition. (Tax owed and not paid.) Finding ways to reduce tax liability (rational) is called tax avoidance . (Tax not owed, and obviously not paid.)

The idea that corporations can avoid paying taxes anywhere and this is just "good accounting" is stupid on the face of it, regardless of the terminology used.

And I suppose you voluntarily pay more tax than you need to?

Re: Google to Invest $10B in India

#175

Post by divs1210 » Mon, Jul 13, 2020, 2:23 PM UTC

kranner wrote: post #156

divs1210 wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We made the mistake of not conflating East India Company with Britain, and it didn't end well for us.

Who was the us in that scenario? There was no India back then, just a set of kingdoms and 'princely states' that hated each other as much as they opposed any European takeover. The present circumstances are in no way similar.

If there was no India before the British, then

a) what was Christopher Columbus looking for?

b) what was Vasco da Gama looking for?

c) what were British/Dutch/French East India Companies looking for?

d) what did Alexander's ambassador Megasthenes write about in his book Indica?

e) where is Mahabharata set? Bharat is still one of India's official names.

India has had a shared cultural history for a very long time.

That it wasn't always called India is a moot point.

Re: Google to Invest $10B in India

#176

Post by enitihas » Mon, Jul 13, 2020, 2:24 PM UTC

kranner wrote: post #172

enitihas wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you are trying to argue both sides here. If the government is not afraid of doing shady stuff, like the Chinese government, then it is free to do anything to any billionaire, and being rich doesn't get anyone any power, like China. If the government respects the rule of law, and doesn't do any extra judicial stuff, even then it makes sense to not let a competing foreign power like China be a stakeholder in yo…

If the Indian government is not afraid of contravening Indian laws, it can grab Chinese shares anyway. If it wants to maintain the appearance of being lawful and fair, there is already an Enemy Property Act, 1968 to more or less support grabbing Chinese investments (perhaps with an amendment or two). Under what pretence would they grab Ambani's property? There is Eminent Domain in India, but only AFAIK for land owner…

It can't grab the Chinese shares without angering China, and anyone in the whole wide world would rather anger any billionaire than China.

> Under what pretence would they grab Ambani's property?

If there is no existing law, government can make laws. I mean the government did nationalize so many banks at once right? The government is sovereign. The amount of power it holds over it's own people, even the richest ones, is far far higher than what it holds over another strong sovereign state.

Anyways this was all about power. There are so many other reasons for ensuring someone in the country holds the wealth rather than your competitor.

Re: Google to Invest $10B in India

#177

Post by MangoCoffee » Mon, Jul 13, 2020, 2:25 PM UTC

btian wrote: post #171

MangoCoffee wrote: post #158

China is aging. China population https://www.populationpyramid.net/china/2020/ vs India population https://www.populationpyramid.net/india/2020/ China will never develop a consumption based economy with its aging population. It takes Europe, decades for its population to age. It only take Japan 25 years to age like Europe and China's one child policy is not helping and its on track to age like Japan. It's only a logi…

> China will never develop a consumption based economy with its aging population Why is that the case? I assume older people consume more than younger ones, esp healthcare

30-40 is the high of consumption. marriage/kids mean house, car...etc. you start to pull back after 60 and try to save your money to last you into old age. health care along is not going to drive the consumption based economy like when you are in your 30. you can see that in baby boomers. Gen X never carry United States like baby boomers did and Gen Y will carry America for the next few decades.

Re: Google to Invest $10B in India

#178

Post by ashishkoujalgi » Mon, Jul 13, 2020, 2:25 PM UTC

sbmthakur wrote: post #58

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.

I would have guessed they do have a strategic raodmap laid out which involves estimations on each of the spendings. It is just not public yet or wont be in the coming months at least because the long-term strategies are designed to be subjected to change. The actual investment scales may never be released to public and one can only make assumptions based on a chnages in the ecosystem of Indian infrastructures.

Re: Google to Invest $10B in India

#179

Post by enitihas » Mon, Jul 13, 2020, 2:27 PM UTC

divs1210 wrote: post #175

kranner wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who was the us in that scenario? There was no India back then, just a set of kingdoms and 'princely states' that hated each other as much as they opposed any European takeover. The present circumstances are in no way similar.

If there was no India before the British, then a) what was Christopher Columbus looking for? b) what was Vasco da Gama looking for? c) what were British/Dutch/French East India Companies looking for? d) what did Alexander's ambassador Megasthenes write about in his book Indica? e) where is Mahabharata set? Bharat is still one of India's official names. India has had a shared cultural history for a very long time. Tha…

I think you misunderstood the parent poster's point. They are talking about India the nation, while you are talking of India the concept. India the concept existed. But India the concept is similar to America the concept or Europe or Africa the concept, not Germany or France. Also, before the British, the last empire to rule over almost all of modern day India was Ashoka, more than 2000 years ago.

Re: Google to Invest $10B in India

#180

Post by ashishkoujalgi » Mon, Jul 13, 2020, 2:28 PM UTC

econcon wrote: post #115

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.

Who pays bribe directly and how can someone even figure that out? When companies need to bribe, they bring consultants which get paid for a different service which is unrelated to what they are actually offering. The consultants charge a lot and bribe the agents on the government either through favours like enjoy our jet or penthouse in Italy or London and get this specific thing done or tell us where to send this ca…

Which would be the state of corruption and bribery happening literally everywhere in the world. Maybe different countries, different companies and different people have different scales of it, but the idea is the same.