This refers to the report "Now, India has to make the brand story a real one: Soumitra Dutta" (December 4). Mr Dutta's contention that "India is about quality, China is about rip-offs" could, at best, be an attempt at being outrageous or, at worst, ignorance. Let's take two of the so-called Indian successes - pharmaceuticals and information technology (IT). Quality issues in the global markets faced by the likes of Ranbaxy, Wockhardt and RPG Life Sciences should not be unknown to anyone. It is also known that growth of Indian generics has come about riding on protective local patent regime facilitating new generics, based only on cost structures and not innovation.
In IT, corporate brands need not be confused with product brands. Indian IT brands have been built on international labour arbitrage, and not on product development through innovation and subsequent branding. Android, Windows, Google, Samsung, Nokia et al, are brands in the everyday life of Indian consumers. The same cannot be said of any Indian brand or product. China's record in intellectual property protection may be debatable but it has nonetheless evolved as the world's manufacturer.
Ajoy K Das, Kolkata
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