COVID-19 has provided India with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. China’s weakening position in the global scenario is a “blessing in disguise” for India. The Chinese regime’s desire to become a global superpower by undermining the social and economic fabric of majority countries, even though these countries provide them with enormous business.
India is a large internal market with cheap quality labor. The government’s growth-oriented policies to attract global companies, such as lower corporate taxes, increased land availability, less bureaucratic interference, development of logistic support such as modern ports, and increased connectivity through world-class highways, are commendable.
The Indian government has already taken several steps to attract investment from companies based in the United States, many European and Asian firms, as well as companies looking for alternatives to China. FDI is increasing year after year.
Simultaneously, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the “Aatmanirbhar Bharat” (Self-Reliant India) movement by declaring “Vocal for Local.” According to the Ministry of Commerce, India’s imports from China include smartphones, electrical appliances, power plant inputs, fertilizers, auto components, finished steel products, capital goods such as power plants, telecom equipment, metro rail coaches, iron and steel products, pharmaceutical ingredients, chemicals and plastics, and engineering goods, among other things. This needs to be changed and hence Self-reliant movement is necessary. Now, we are moving in the right direction when it comes to self-sufficiency in India by assisting in the manufacture of many products in-house.
Can India match the manufacturing capabilities of Taiwan, South Korea, and China in terms of innovation, technology, quality, and cost? We need to investigate.
The Indian government and business enterprises must concentrate on “Incremental Innovation.” We must understand consumer psychology, as they constantly expect product or service variations in aesthetics, features, and design in a short period of time. Why do we import so much furniture, kitchenware, and electrical appliances from China? Our business enterprises lack an incremental innovation approach. China possesses this expertise in focusing on consumer needs to design products and services with new intent on an ongoing basis. China has produced more innovators through universities and business enterprises, investing heavily in R&D. The central government’s emphasis on R&D is clearly visible in the New Education Policy, which states that universities will be given support and funding to develop students in R&D. In the coming years, we will witness significant change.
Even though we are making rapid progress in the electronics and software industries, we still have a long way to go to meet the needs of the Indian and global markets. To take one example from the software industry, most Indians use apps for entertainment, knowledge, news and views, studies, government work, jobs, and business purposes; however, we are primarily dependent on foreign apps, primarily Chinese. Our software professionals and IT industry must work harder to develop local apps to create more local jobs, improve security, and prevent our hard-earned money from being misused.
Even though we have a large talent pool and companies in this field, why is this area underserved?
Though our journey towards Self-reliant India is bearing fruits with great initiatives by central government and few states resulting in increase in export, rising manufacturing and service activities however we still have larger market internally and bigger global market is waiting for us. Central government’s actions need support from each state, bureaucracy, businesses, industrialist, researchers, Scientist, and society at large.
Few states are not cooperating to the extent desired currently to oppose the Modi government, forgetting the mantra “State Development is Nation Development.” This attitude of non-cooperation should be changed with the development of society and nation in mind, rather than political benefits.
Though the central government is proactive and taking lot of initiatives to promote indigenous products and services and attracting foreign companies, more efforts are needed to gain the confidence of stakeholders such as…
This is a golden opportunity that has been presented to us, and if we ignore it, we are denying our ability to become a superpower to work for the betterment of every individual on the planet and the environment. Our culture does not allow us to take control of other nations’ sovereignty and harm their interests, as China is doing today.
Let us take an oath as consumers to buy products made in India.
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