India can take on China with low cost of wages

 Expecting a moderation in interest rates in coming days to spur manufacturing growth, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said the Indian industry can take on China with lower wage cost and competitive pricing of products. Speaking at a leather industry event, he said India's largest competitor China is facing today a "great challenge of a high wage bill". China's labour cost, which was once affordable, is now high. "And therefore their (China's) costs have to go up... Our wage bills are lesser than our competitors. As we go on to future years, hopefully with interest rates also moderating, the costs therefore have to be kept under control," he said. Mr Jaitley said, in the past, India had slowed down in cost competitiveness because of its labour regime, cost of utilities like power, infrastructure, high cost of capital and various other factors.     — NDTV