By Chris Devonshire-Ellis
BEIJING, Nov. 9 - The new issue of China Briefing’s sister magazine, India Briefing, is now out, and is a Delhi and Mumbai special, identifying the investment environment in those cities. But in reading it through, and regularly visiting those cities as well as Beijing (where I live) and Shanghai, other comparisons start to spring to mind as well, and particularly between those of the two countries political and financial centers.
Delhi, now directly linked to Beijing via a 6 hour route flying down to Yunnan, across Burma and Bangladesh then along the southern edge of the Himalaya, has its own development issues. Building a new airport, holding international games…sounds familiar? Delhi is home to the 2010 Commonwealth Games, second only to the Olympics in size and stature, with 56 nations participating. Yup, the good old Brits still have their shadow Empire in place – the British Commonwealth – and the quadrennial games are in Delhi. Infrastructure, roads, hotels, you name it, all being upgraded. Plus a new Delhi airport and terminal too. One thing will be better however – Beijing’s dreadful air pollution, which will hinder their Olympics badly, will not occur in Delhi. For the Indians, unlike the Chinese, were rather more forward looking and banned all petrol driven public vehicles from the city several years ago. Buses, taxis, tuk-tuks, and an increasing number of lorries and cars now run on gas, with no emissions, and the result has been spectacular. Delhi, a huge sprawling mass of a city, now has far cleaner air than Beijing. (more…)