India is being bullied, because it can be bullied: Perils of Babushahi, political pandering, and more

India is being bullied, because it can be bullied. Our country lost too many decades to Babu massaging & political pandering.

China controls 90% of US' Pharma API (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient) supplies. If the two countries go on a hot war tomorrow, China can just block the API supply and the entire US population will start dropping dead. China will win without firing a single bullet. And that's a fact. And It's not just the APIs. China's share in new drug development has also reached 28%. Just 12 years ago, it was 3%. In pharma, China has developed itself as a present and future powerhouse, with the rest of the world playing catch up. Quite incredible.

Meanwhile, India is only a generic manufacturing player. While our country supplies ~20% of the world’s generic medicines and calls itself the "Pharmacy of the world", the caveat is that we rely on China for over 60–70% of the API imports. "Pharmacy of the world"? Nah. That's aggrandisement. We're more like a good trade operator. China holds all the cards.

Then comes Solar. China’s share across all manufacturing stages, i.e. Polysilicon, Ingots, Wafers, Cells, and Modules - exceeds 80% globally. It controls 98% of Ingots and 97% of Wafers. Basically, you can't do Solar without China. Period. The entire world wants Solar, but it can't even turn the leaf without China's say so. That's how it is.

Similar is the case of EVs. China recently showed the world its place by blocking the supply of Rare Earth Magnets (of which it controls 90% of the global supply). Every nation came down to its knees. But that was only a small show of the chips China has. China also controls ~97% of global capacity of Anode materials, 90% of Cathode materials, and basically everything else. With 75% of global EV Cell manufacturing capacity in their control, you can't make EVs without China. You can't start, you can't scale, you can't finish. Harsh words, but true.

In nutshell, China has come to a position where these three industries - Pharma, EVs & Solar - CAN SIMPLY NOT EXIST without its say so. They're totally, and absolutely dependent on it. Then there are industries which can survive without China, but not really. Like manufacturing of Electronics, Textile accessories, LEDs, and so on. China has total dominance in all these areas. The clothes might get stitched in Bangladesh (or India), but ~100% zippers come from China. The world simply has no options. China has ALL the leverage.

Does India have leverage like that in any area whatsover? Apart from the 75% supply of Turmeric, No. But why? Because of Babus and political pandering.

The only global industry we could ever create was the $280B IT services play. And while it's great, the fact is that even Indian IT could only be built, because our Babus didn't quite understand it till it became huge. They couldn't come in the way. Hope that changes. We need leverage. And soon.

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