What We Said

EP18: What Indian automakers can learn from China’s Geely

In 2008, Geely ranked dead last in China's quality survey. By 2024, Volvo's best-selling EV was built on a platform Geely designed. What happened in between is the most important business story Indian auto companies aren't paying attention to.India's biggest conglomerates — JSW, Dixon, Exide — are signing deal after deal with Chinese partners. Licensing platforms from SAIC and Chery. Sourcing battery technology from SVOLT. Assembling smartphones with 90% imported components. The factories are enormous. The patents are zero.Geely took a different path. It bought Volvo in 2010, spent 15 years embedding Chinese engineers alongside Swedish ones, and systematically absorbed the capability to design vehicles — not just build them. Xiaomi did it even faster, going from zero automotive experience to 600,000 vehicles delivered in 22 months.This video breaks down Geely's four-phase absorption model, contrasts it with India's current licensing-dependent approach, and asks the question no one in Indian industry seems to be asking: when does the learning start?

EP17: How China Built a Jet Engine (And Why India Couldn't)

In 1986, China and India both launched indigenous jet engine programmes. Same year. Same ambition. Four decades later, China's WS-15 powers a stealth fighter. India's Kaveri was cancelled. The difference wasn't talent or money. It was what China was willing to pay.

EP16: Convenient Scapegoat: Debunking 'Hindu Rate of Growth'

For decades, economists and policymakers have thrown around the phrase "Hindu Rate of Growth" to describe India's economic stagnation before 1991. But what if I told you this term has almost nothing to do with Hinduism, and everything to do with covering up the real culprit—socialist economic planning? It's time that serious academics refrain from using such an ill-founded and prejudiced term. Hindus are not scapegoats to be thrown under the bus for every mishap that occurred in Indian history.  You can read here: https://swarajyamag.com/economics/hindu-rate-of-growth-a-tale-of-prejudices-and-fallacies [https://swarajyamag.com/economics/hindu-rate-of-growth-a-tale-of-prejudices-and-fallacies] You can also tune in to the "What This Means" podcast by Swarajya, where we decode major stories with experts. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://open.spotify.com/show/1CzvC1mqq2BApXyoINGIEw?si=eec7dfe982874ff2]https://open.spotify.com/show/1CzvC1mqq2BApXyoINGIEw?si=eec7dfe982874ff2 [https://open.spotify.com/show/1CzvC1mqq2BApXyoINGIEw?si=eec7dfe982874ff2]

EP15: Borderlines & Bullet Trains — How China Plans To Dominate The LAC

In this episode, we will talk about how China is building its railway network in Tibet to dominate the LAC. Beijing has begun laying the next section of its railway network to gird the entire Line of Actual Control (LAC), creating a steel backbone that will stretch from Aksai Chin in the west to Arunachal Pradesh in the east. You can read here: ⁠ [https://swarajyamag.com/science/navic-how-indias-alternative-to-gps-is-hanging-by-a-thread]https://swarajyamag.com/defence/how-china-is-building-a-rail-network-in-tibet-to-dominate-the-lac [https://swarajyamag.com/defence/how-china-is-building-a-rail-network-in-tibet-to-dominate-the-lac] You can also tune in to the "What This Means" podcast by Swarajya, where we decode major stories with experts. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://open.spotify.com/show/1CzvC1mqq2BApXyoINGIEw?si=eec7dfe982874ff2]https://open.spotify.com/show/1CzvC1mqq2BApXyoINGIEw?si=eec7dfe982874ff2 [https://open.spotify.com/show/1CzvC1mqq2BApXyoINGIEw?si=eec7dfe982874ff2]

EP14: How India's GPS Alternative NavIC Is Hanging By A Thread

In this episode we will talk about how India built its own satellite navigation system, NavIC, to free India from GPS dependence and to never face the helplessness again. And how, 25 years later, that system is one atomic clock failure away from complete collapse. You can read here: https://swarajyamag.com/science/navic-how-indias-alternative-to-gps-is-hanging-by-a-thread [https://swarajyamag.com/science/navic-how-indias-alternative-to-gps-is-hanging-by-a-thread] You can also tune in to the "What This Means" podcast by Swarajya, where we decode major stories with experts. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://open.spotify.com/show/1CzvC1mqq2BApXyoINGIEw?si=eec7dfe982874ff2]https://open.spotify.com/show/1CzvC1mqq2BApXyoINGIEw?si=eec7dfe982874ff2 [https://open.spotify.com/show/1CzvC1mqq2BApXyoINGIEw?si=eec7dfe982874ff2]