Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has just launched what he's calling "the biggest brand that India has ever created", in the form of a massive national drive to bring more foreign investment into the country. The "Make in India" initiative represents the government's most intensive and concerted efforts yet to steal a good chunk of China's thunder and see India become a global leader in low-cost manufacture.
The campaign has been engineered to "spark a renewed sense of pride in India's manufacturing", so reads its official marketing description. The initial buzz has been both significant and widespread, with a number of business leaders and international politicians attending the launch bash yesterday. Today, 8,000 domestic business representatives met with around 2,500 international businesses in the very heart of Mumbai.
But while optimism remains high and the government's message is clear, business leaders on the ground in India are not convinced that the reality measures up to the hype. Modi has been in power for almost two years now and was elected on the back of promises to improve both infrastructure and job prospects for hundreds of millions of Indians. As far as many experts are concerned however, there's still a great deal to be done.
"Make in India is a great initiative and has created a lot of positive sentiments," said OnePlus in India general manager Vikas Agarwal, in an interview with Reuters.
"Now the government needs to follow up with policies. That includes providing custom duty and export incentives, tax rationalization and removal of ambiguous land acquisition policies."
One of the biggest victories the Make in India initiative has scored to date is that of securing a $ 5 billion investment pledge from Foxconn – the Taiwanese company responsible for assembling devices from Apple, Microsoft, Samsung and others. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development reports that overall foreign investment in India hit $ 59 billion in 2015 – more than double the total tally of 2014.
But while investment is clearly heading in the right direction, the major concern is that of whether India has the infrastructure to support it. GDP remains disappointingly low, despite ongoing promises to improve it. In addition, Boston Consulting reports that India has added only 4 million manufacturing jobs nationally over the past five years, making the government's goal of 100 million jobs by 2022 appear entirely unrealistic.
Many experts have argued that rather than trying to take a leaf from China's book, India should instead focus on its own domestic interests and improvements to infrastructure. Without addressing such issues first, the Make in India drive may run out of steam altogether, or perhaps serve to sour international investor interest dramatically.
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