China+1, or 1/2.

"With steadily rising tensions between the United States and China, the race to become +1 in the China+1 contest is now in full swing," wrote Prof Arvind Panagariya. Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Cambodia, India and Bangladesh are in the running. India's advantages are: 1. It has a huge working age population with 950.2 million people in the 15-64 age group. 2. Per capita income is very low so wages are also low. 3. It is a single market and goods and services can move freely within its borders. 4. It is a large internal market with a GDP of $3.4 trillion. India's disadvantage is that it is not a member of either the Regional and Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) or the Comprehensive Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and our tariffs are too high. China is a member of RCEP and has applied to join CPTPP. "An examination of customs-duty rates beginning in 2011-12 confirms the general impression that they saw an uptick beginning in 2014-15," wrote Panagariya. "But the real break in the policy came in 2018-19: That year, a massive 42.3% of all tariff lines went up, the average of all customs duties increased from 13.7% to 17.7%, and the proportion of tariff lines bearing 15% or higher duty rates shot up from 28.7% to 51.0%." "India sends to the OECD some of the brightest tax experts in the world," wrote Pascal Saint-Amiens. "But India suffers from a negative reputation for the practices of its tax administration." "India does not need tax incentives to attract investments. It is the largest fast-growing market in the world. What it needs is tax certainty." "Leading chartered accountant and Manipal Group Chairperson Mohandas Pai has reacted to a report that said 6,500 high-net-worth individuals (HNIs) will leave India in 2023 calling the trend 'very worrisome' and attributing it to 'tax terrorism'." Mint. "The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has granted foreign banks in 18 countries to open Vostro accounts to settle international trade in rupees. In July, last year, the Centre had said that it will be setting up of a mechanism to settle international trade in rupees." BT. But, "Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov recently said that Russia has 'accumulated billions of rupees in Indian banks' and to use this money 'the rupees need to be transferred to another currency'," wrote Vivek Kaul. Yield on 10-year government bonds in India is at 7.157, in.investing.com, while the RBI lending rate is at 6.5%, ET. The Federal Funds rate in the US is at 5%-5.25%, Forbes, while the 10-year bond yield in the US is at 4.036, in.investing.com. Clearly, the US Fed has credibility and the RBI does not. And so, "Indian refiners have begun paying for some oil imports from Russia in Chinese yuan." BT. We are nowhere near China+1. Reached half yet?