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Google to Invest $10B in India

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Re: Google to Invest $10B in India

#201

Post by sbmthakur »

_jgdh wrote: post #120
kamaal wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most Indians care only about the cheapest workable plan, product, service, while making a purchase. It's not about Jio, it's about the 500 rupees free call, free SMS, free 4G plans. As long as Jio offers it they'll use it. They'll drop it as soon as something cheaper comes around. Mukesh Amabani, is mostly raising money because he had simply too much debt, and he is also getting old. It could also be a part of larger…

> They'll drop it as soon as something cheaper comes around. My bet - nothing cheaper comes along. Because Reliance's biggest competitive advantage is close links with the government, regardless of the party in power. A hypothetical competitor would find it difficult to get spectrum allocated, have trouble with land usage rights, tax issues like Vodafone had. There is a reason foreign companies set up joint ventures…

> Because Reliance's biggest competitive advantage is close links with the government, regardless of the party in power.

I think their biggest advantage is their cheap (earlier free) data services.

Re: Google to Invest $10B in India

#202

Post by shankr »

enitihas wrote: post #179
divs1210 wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

If we are being pedantic, Germany didn't exist until 1871.

Re: Google to Invest $10B in India

#203

Post by sbmthakur »

ankit219 wrote: post #52
frequentnapper wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> 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.

These competitors are the same companies who had 'cartelized' the telecom industry[0] and had refused to bring down data prices in order to ensure their profits. I wonder why questions weren't raised against TRAI back then. Once Jio entered the scene, they did bring down the prices.

0. https://www.counterview.net/2016/09/top-telecom-cartes-airte...

Re: Google to Invest $10B in India

#206

Post by sbmthakur »

intended wrote: post #181
_jgdh wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They'll drop it as soon as something cheaper comes around. My bet - nothing cheaper comes along. Because Reliance's biggest competitive advantage is close links with the government, regardless of the party in power. A hypothetical competitor would find it difficult to get spectrum allocated, have trouble with land usage rights, tax issues like Vodafone had. There is a reason foreign companies set up joint ventures…

Indian telecom is now a classic oligopoly, far from our heady days as one of the most insanely competitive telecom markets.

In those 'competive' days data prices were so high that most of the country couldn't afford it. And this was just because the existing companies had formed some sort of a 'cartel' and were not willing to part with profits[0]. All that changed when Jio entered the market.

0. https://www.counterview.net/2016/09/top-telecom-cartes-airte...

Re: Google to Invest $10B in India

#207

Post by selimthegrim »

tlear wrote: post #141
Barrin92 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Getting the feeling China has blown it and successful companies looking to expand into Asia are now looking at India instead Chinese leadership priced this in years ago. If you follow ongoing political debates in China more closely they were already talking about the next 20 years being rocky as China climbs up in the world stage five to ten years ago. Why do you think China's Made in China 2025 industrial policy pr…

Talk is talk, but question is why murder Indian soldiers? Why bother destroying the golden goose Honkong? Add to that silly power games to try and intimidate Australia(and failing) PRC strategy is very far from smart here. Perhaps it is supreme arrogance? Arrogance like that historically have led to a lot of people getting killed.

HK’s biggest tech darling at the moment is deeply implicated in the Chinese surveillance state. Irony of ironies.

Re: Google to Invest $10B in India

#208

Post by navinsylvester »

Barrin92 wrote: post #155
tlear wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Talk is talk, but question is why murder Indian soldiers? Why bother destroying the golden goose Honkong? Add to that silly power games to try and intimidate Australia(and failing) PRC strategy is very far from smart here. Perhaps it is supreme arrogance? Arrogance like that historically have led to a lot of people getting killed.

Hong Kong isn't a golden goose any more. Hong Kong went from representing about a fifth of the Chinese economy to about 2% today. The Shanghai stock exchange today is larger than the one in Hong Kong, and the perception in China has shifted from seeing it as an important economic region to a political nuissance as the role of foreign capital diminishes. It's not seen as a dynamic region any more and the tech talent g…

Why would China try these postures when the opposite country is neck deep in handling a pandemic and one which originated from its land. Is this any time for a bloody battle or power trips?. May be there is more to it than the reasoning you mentioned. Internal frictions are starting to get visible against premier due to the way he handled the covid and how much repair it has caused China globally. May be he is trying to do all this antics to shore up nationalism and create a new problem/diversion which makes covid related ones to take a back seat.

> India doesn't stand a chance in an actual conflict

If its a full blown war then may be yes. But two nuclear powers going all out and all alone will not happen so others will step in. It would complicate things for China. Ideally it should be conventional and a very short one. The rules for engagement can't be escalated, that means China has to work with severe geographic disadvantages.

Re: Google to Invest $10B in India

#209

Post by derefr »

screye wrote: post #199
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…

> Mukhesh Ambani who's got a good connect with the current ruling Government To be fair, Mukesh has got good connections everywhere. He is India's most powerful person. Amitabh and the Shahrukh (some of the world's richest actors, both half billionaires) both volunteered as servers at his daughters wedding as a show of appreciation. If a man can command the most powerful of his country to such level of willful subser…

> volunteered as servers at his daughters wedding ... subservience

I don't know about you, but when I hear "working as a server at a wedding attended by many powerful people", I don't think "subservience", I think "unique opportunity to make connections, and to potentially snoop insider information."

Re: Google to Invest $10B in India

#210

Post by [deleted] »

enitihas wrote: post #97
kranner wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not China, it is Chinese VC money. And no, I don't see that the Government can deal with Ambani so easily, or even antagonise him with impunity. Winning elections cost money and with the new electoral bonds, Ambani can easily fund the opposition in the next elections.

Yeah, the Chinese government is far more involved with it's companies than India with any of it's non nationalized companies. China got Jack Ma to spinoff Alipay from Alibaba, screwing the other shareholders badly. I don't think there is anyy big company in China without CCP members high up in the ranks. Ambani on the other hand, however powerful he may be, is certainly not a bigger threat than China. Companies being…

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