INDE PERSPECTIVE

India covers the Chinese forum through the prism of Sino-Indian rivalry for Global South technological leadership. The Times of India headlines on the growing R&D investment gap between China and India, calling the situation a 'Sputnik moment' for New Delhi. The Hindu analyzes areas where India can still compete — IT services, software, space research — and those where China has taken an insurmountable lead.

NDTV and Republic TV adopt opposing tones: NDTV sounds the alarm on India's AI and robotics lag, while Republic TV minimizes Chinese advances, recalling 'ghost companies' and 'inflated figures' of the Chinese model. The Indian Express publishes a comparison between Modi's Digital India and Xi's 15th Five-Year Plan, concluding India bets on digital services where China bets on hardware.

The civilizational framing is present: India, birthplace of mathematics and logical philosophy, has a natural legitimacy in AI. IITs train the world's best engineers — but many leave to work in Silicon Valley rather than Bangalore.

The forum's geopolitical dimension doesn't escape Indian analysts: the 'Global South Financiers Forum,' held simultaneously in Beijing, is perceived as a Chinese attempt to capture the Global South leadership that India also claims.