China must avoid arrogance over India's manufacturing: media

It will be a "very dangerous venture" if China adopts an arrogant attitude towards India's manufacturing surge and ignores the country's competitiveness, state-run Chinese media warned on Friday.

China should pay more attention to India's increasing manufacturing competitiveness, an article in the website of the state-run Global Times said, cautioning the Chinese industry against complacency.

"Scholars should make a careful analysis about the soaring growth to find out whether this is merely a flash in the pan or a result of subtle changes in competition in the manufacturing sector," it said.

"Although it is too early to say that India will replace China as a manufacturing giant, as it is not easy to form a complete industry chain from screw to commercial airliner in a short time, increased competitiveness from Indian-made products should be closely watched," it said.

"Official data showing India's January exports to China soared 42 per cent year-on-year was overlooked by most Chinese analysts, but it will be a very dangerous venture if China adopts an arrogant attitude toward India's increasing competitiveness," it said.

Official data showing India's January exports to China soared 42 per cent year-on-year which was overlooked by most Chinese analysts, but it will be a "very dangerous venture" if attention is being paid to bright points in the country's economy, the article said.

"What cannot be overlooked is the increasing competitiveness of the manufacturing sector in India," it said. The sudden increase in India's exports is a surprise for the Chinese as India's trade continued to jump year on year.

It soared to over USD 46 billion in over USD 70 billion bilateral trade.

The Global Times article said that the rapid growth in India's manufacturing sector is likely to continue.

"The Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index grew to 50.7 in February from 50.4 in January, suggesting an expansion of activity in the sector," it said

"Although India is still in its initial stage of developing export-oriented manufacturing industries, the country has great potential to emerge as a regional hub for labour-intensive industries," it said, pointing to the survey that China's manufacturing hourly wage in last year was roughly five times that in India.