Rather than boycotting products manufactured in China, China is urging Indians to work long hours to catch up with them in manufacturing.
That’s according to a recent Globaltimes article, in response to Indian protests against Chinese-manufactured products. “Many Chinese workers have embraced the “9-9-6” culture, while many billionaires in China work even longer hours,” writes Hu Weijia.
996 is a work schedule of 12 hours a day from 9 am to 9 pm, six days a week (72 hours in total).
“Adopting the 996 schedule can help India further improve its business environment, attract foreign investment and eventually enhance India’s competitiveness in the manufacturing sector,” explains Weijia. “If inbound manufacturing investment from countries including China can help India produce goods with a high performance-price ratio, India will have a chance to win a victory over the campaign against made-in-China products.”
“I agree with most of this article,” says LIU POST Economics Professor Udayan Roy. “India is mostly a tale of two economies,” says Roy. “Most of the people are engaged in very backward agriculture. And some educated people are in the services sector, including information technology. India has never had a large and competitive manufacturing sector.“
Still, the problem may be more of a matter of education, health and discipline rather than long-hours, according to Roy. “I don’t know why India has never had a successful, job-creating locomotive in the industrial sector,” he continues. “But it may be that India doesn’t have the well-educated, healthy and disciplined work force that industry needs.”
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