China must hire more Indian techies, says state-run media

Beijing should hire high-tech talent from India for maintaining its innovation ability, a Chinese state-run newspaper said on Friday.

''China has perhaps not been working hard enough to attract science and technology talent from India to work in the country,'' said an article published in the Global Times.

The article said that over the past few years, China had witnessed an unprecedented boom in tech jobs and the country has become an attractive destination for foreign research and development centres.

But now, some tech firms are turning their attention from China to India as labour costs are lower.

The opinion piece highlights the importance of high-tech Indian talent, and says China's mistake is to ignore Indian talent and opting for talent coming from the United States and Europe.

The article quoted Chinese news portal caijing.com as saying that the US based software firm CA Technologies has disbanded its almost 300-strong research and development team in China, while setting up 2,000 strong scientific and team in India.

''China cannot afford to risk a decline in its attractiveness for high-tech investors,'' it said.

''The nation is among the third echelon in cutting-edge technology fields and is working to catch up with the US and the result of its efforts will decide whether China will maintain its status as an emerging global economic power,'' it added.

The piece pointed out various measures taken by China in this regard including increasing research spending and creating a favourable investment environment for high-tech firms to enhance its innovation capability.

The article, however, expressed concern over the talent pool in China, saying that it is not large and flexible enough to meet the demand for innovation capability rapidly.

''In the Silicon Valley, a considerable number of software developers working there are born outside the US. China should also strive to attract more foreign talent into the country as it aims to build itself into a world-class research hub,'' it said.

''A total of 1,576 foreigners were granted Chinese permanent residence in 2016, registering an increase of 163 per cent from the previous year. It seems that China is aware of the importance of tapping into international talent,'' the article further said.

Citing some reports that claimed that the cost of employing an Indian engineer is just half the cost of hiring a Chinese worker, the article said Indians could see their revenue more than double if they came to work in China.

''Some enterprises in Southwest China's Guizhou Province provide convenience for Indian talent in terms of housing, insurance and transportation and could enjoy a much better standard of living in Guizhou cities than in Bangalore,'' it said.