Make in India for Indians

If re is one big bone I have to pick with Make in India and related work, it is this. We have to Make in India for Indians first before we invite competition from outside which we may t survive. Think. When 1.3 billion Indians start consuming goods and services, water, food, electricity, health care and education, we will t be able to meet demand. entire business and commercial world abro is looking to India as a potential market for goods, services and more. In many visits that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has me to foreign countries and his counterparts who have visited New Delhi, tre and commerce – bilateral and multilateral - have got top billing. day Indians start consuming world-class goods and services and demand quality products right down line, we’re talking. days Indian service providers across spectrum understand that service is t servility our understanding of what is our right and what is bullying (domestic and international) will reach a new level. day we in India tell major powers we do t want only assembly-line investments and jobs Indians would have arrived. last thing Indians deserve is to become industrialised world’s dumping ground.

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India is slated to be among world’s top three ecomies over next dece. Our GDP is expected to grow 7.3 per cent in 2018 – 2019. country remains in top three for number of start-ups and according to data from Reserve Bank, country’s foreign exchange reserves stood at US$ 400.49 billion in mid-September 2018. According to India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) and initiative of Ministry of Commerce, investment climate in country is positive. “ M&A activity in India increased 53.3 per cent to US$ 77.6 billion in 2017 while private equity (PE) deals reached US$ 24.4 billion.”

Some or successes listed by IBEF (and I pick a clutch and quote verbatim) are:

• Exports from India increased 20.7 per cent year – on – year (yoy) to US$ 221.83 billion in April – August 2018-11-11
• Income tax collection in country reached US$ 137.75 billion (Rs. 21,000 crore) in 2017 – 2018
• India’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) equity inflows reached US$ 389.60 billion between April 2000 and June 2018 with maximum contribution from services, computer software and hardware, telecommunications, construction, tring and automobiles.
• Some 10.8 million jobs were created in country in 2017.
• India has improved its ranking in World Bank’s Ease of Business Doing Reports by 23 spots over its 2018 ranking and is ranked 77 among 190 countries in  2019 edition of report.
• World Bank has stated that private investments in India is expected to grow by 8.8 per cent in financial year (FY) 2018 – 2019 to overtake private consumption growth of 7.4 per cent and reby drive growth in India’s gross domestic product (GDP) in FY 2018 – 2019.
• India’s Index of Industrial Production (IIP) rose 5.4 per cent yoy in April – July 2018

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A small group of Indian businesspeople are also shopping abro and y are picking up best – in – league companies. My favourite show-India-off moment came when Anand Mahindra bought Pininfarina, god of car and coach making (y design Ferrari) in Italy. Or highs have been when Tata Group and Bharat Forge (BF)* make superb acquisitions abro. re’s car in world that does t have a BF component. I began this piece by stating that Indians deserve quality products and t everything Me in India is up to mark. re’s a reason for this and I’ll come to that in a minute.

Eleven million jobs in 2017 is a dismal number. Enabling an atmosphere that is conducive to job creation is government’s business. It has to do this without being heavy-handed. That is unfortunately t case and while data on ease of doing business in country says orwise, speak to people outside of India Inc. league and Indian Inc. off record and story is quite different. While most ackwledge that direction is right, systems that can bring about a nuts and bolts transformation are sluggish and even stuck. Just one number will show how ineffective ways can le to indifference. Let us take skill development sector that was a flagship project of this government. It has trained some 41.3 lakh people in past three years and only a little over six lakh people have been placed. Why are jobs t being created?

An interesting fact that jumps out is just how little money is pumped into health and education sector. What is logic of having more IITs and super speciality hospitals when people cant spell and write one coherent sentence and we have stock-outs of life-saving medicines? Why is re ambition when it comes to wanting best of health and education? Both have an impact on our daily lives and we make-do or ensure we are fine while millions are igred.

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We don’t take pride in our work. We are eir arrogant or subservient. We are happy with juga - fix it so it works. Electricians, plumbers, carpenters, masons, to name a few, are largely unskilled but employed. Hiring skilled labour is expensive so builders make-do. Hiring trained ro layers is n-existent so get untrained people to lay ros, which result in potholes before tar dries. Our ros are b, You can fix a lamp in house with a juga, but nation can be built on that rickety convenience. In fact, big country has seen a decent ecomic take off without a manufacturing sector to boot. We in India do t respect small and medium enterprises (SMEs). When I tell people that over 90% of companies in Switzerland (ten global brands for some eight million people) are SMEs, re is disbelief. same applies to Germany, Europe’s industrial powerhouse. We in India need at least 15 million new jobs year-on-year (yoy) if we have to set sail. This is what will le to Making in India for Indians upon which we can build our export and tre policies. In absence of a strong foundation, structure is sustainable.

I will write about battles that wait for us as World Tre Organisation (WTO), world’s free tre police in ar post. For w, let us t compare ourselves to China or United States (US) as we try and grow our ecomy. y are ecomic and military giants and when one sneezes or one gets a cold. Let us also t compare ourselves to Singapore or Switzerland – one is a dictatorship and or has a work - ethic that we don’t. Let us work towards Making in India for Indians. That means t chasing miracles and working steily and slowly towards achievable goals across sectors that make country function and citizenry engd. Let us do it with a sense of ownership and pride, in that order. rest will follow.

*Subramaniam has worked for Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Bharat Forge in Europe.