Why China can never beat us

I support the English language because that is our strength today. When you look at China and India, what is our biggest advantage? It’s English.

If you don’t want our youngsters to benefit from global opportunities and if you want to confine them to Karnataka, then please impose Kannada language education. If you are really committed to Kannada medium education, why are the people who are opposing English sending their kids to English medium schools?

In the good old days studying English was a sign of subservience to the British Raj. It’s no longer about that. English is about your ability to participate in global opportunities.

Today, why is it that I feel so confident that India has a much better business advantage over China? Because I know I can communicate and conduct business far more effectively in English than my Chinese counterpart can.

The advantage will continue as long as we can keep focussing on the medium. Because no matter how much the Chinese try to learn English, if we continue to focus on English we will always be far more fluent and far more proficient in English than them.


The writer is the chairman and managing director of Biocon Ltd