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?

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.

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

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