Be local, feel local, go global

Now we have to move forward with a new resolve and determination.
A laboratory set up for the diagnosis of coronavirus. (Photo|EPS/ Madhav K)
A laboratory set up for the diagnosis of coronavirus. (Photo|EPS/ Madhav K)

Now we have to move forward with a new resolve and determination. When ethics are filled with duty, the culmination of diligence, the capital of skills, then who can stop India from becoming self-reliant? We can make India a self-reliant nation. We will make India self-reliant. —Prime Minister Narendra Modi

As far as brands go, India is a brandmaker. From Ayurveda to Khadi, it has over the millennia given the world myriad products with generic impact. Last week, India’s most powerful globalised brand Narendra Modi invoked Bharatiya as the formula for Atma Nirbharta (self-reliance.) He has given a unique marketing spin to Indian heritage, culture, traditions and socio-economic philosophy. The COVID-19 pandemic compelled him to reassert his swadeshi roots when during a 31-minute speech he announced a mammoth relief package of Rs 20 lakh crore to revive indigenous talent and hidden skills.

Paradoxes expose opposite nodes; it was evident that the prime minister’s faith in one-way global connectivity has turned out to be more of a liability than an asset. Like many past economic packages, it gave headlines an adrenaline rush but, in reality, was more complex for bottom lines and implementation. Yet, it revealed directional and ideological correction. Modi appealed to Indians to think local and become vocal. He defined the five pillars of the colossal edifice of self-reliance.

  • The Indian economy should move away from the concept of incremental growth to a quantum
  • jump trajectory
  • Create world-class infrastructure that defines the identity of India
  • Set up an ecosystem created by technology and not just conventions
  • Redefine India’s healthy demographic contours to ensure a vibrant democracy, which will accelerate the
  • massive demand for goods and services.
  • Establish a demand-led and not supply-induced economic model

This isn’t the first time that Modi mooted the revival of swadeshi model. He launched MII aka Make in India campaign in September 2014, barely three months after he received an unprecedented single party majority mandate that junked the Congress welfare ideology. His vision envisaged a 12-14 per cent growth in the manufacturing sector so that its contribution to GDP would rise from less than 20 per cent to about 25 per cent by 2025 and create an additional 100 million jobs by 2022. The objective was to fertilise a favourable environment for FDI investment in 25 specific sectors. The new policy was meant “to transform India into a global design and manufacturing hub”. Six years later, the country is stuck in the quagmire of vested interests even though it was meant to move machines, and not minds, from the West and the Far East.

Many international business houses announced fancy plans promising huge investments. If all the promises are totalled, the deal would cross half of the US GDP. From manufacturing cars, defence equipment to technology parks and more, there was hardly a global corporate house, which wasn’t bitten by the Modi bug. After all, he was opening up the gargantuan Indian market. The Prime Minister and his team must be now auditing the success of the MII dream. In reality, the foreign companies were pumping money out of the country as royalty payments rather than making profits through local partners and subsidiaries, instead of giving to India. The Indian bureaucracy has converted Make in India into Take From India .

Even after the coronavirus forced economic apartheid on China, there are no signs of multinationals making a beeline for Indian shores. The perception balance is counterproductive to the MII dream. India possesses a strong leader but has an equally vulnerable and weaker ecosystem for ease of doing business. Foreign investors have always taken advantage of its vulnerability in Research and Development (R&D). Over 70 per cent of our service and large industrial sector survive on technology borrowed from abroad. India may boast of having produced global technology companies like TCS, Wipro and Infosys, but has hardly created an indestructible and prestigious international brand.

From bicycles to computers, it still survives on foreign raw material and components. The irony is that almost every rural housewife uses needles made in China; her child plays with toys made in China. Even the priests in Indian temples use the sacred thread and diyas made in China. Our netas wax eloquent about the nation’s glorious past but for non-Indians, India is still a country where half the population is semiliterate and over two-thirds earn less than $500 dollars per year. For poverty perpetuating liberal intellectuals, the only visible Indian brands are snake charmers, beggars, under-nourished children and the romantic Taj Mahal.

Sorry to spoil the fable but in spite of its enormous brain capital, the nation has failed in its R&D goals, which would have made it economically muscular and an internationally sustainable saleable model.Modi is the first political doctor to prescribe holistic transformation by saying “When the Corona crisis started, there was not a single PPE kit made in India. The N-95 masks were produced in small quantity in India. Today, we are in a situation to produce 2 lakh PPE and 2 lakh N-95 masks daily. We were able to do this because India turns this crisis into an opportunity.”

In terms of total manufacturing capacity, these numbers look ridiculous. But it says a lot about India’s capacity to create wonders in a short time. Why are we unable to manufacture world-class ventilators, premium healthcare and defence equipment, machinery for road building and mining, and first-class components for computers and cell phones in large numbers? Our pharma companies are performing in a stellar way but have failed to invest enough in R&D.

Because, India’s R&D story is pathetic. According to official figures, it spends just around 0.7 per cent on R&D against 2.1 per cent by China, 2.8 by the US and 4.2 by South Korea. While the government spends about Rs 1 lakh crore on R&D, the private sector has contributed less than C6,500 crore. In contrast, Amazon spends over $22 billion, Alphabet $16 billion, Volkswagen $16 billion and Samsung $9.15 billion.

No comparable figures for top Indian corporate are available. They find it financially feasible to connect with foreign collaborators rather than spending on research at home. Dreaming of an atma nirbhar India would be futile unless Modi is able to push the Indian establishment, its corporate leaders and academics to Think India, Love India and Feel India. The saying that the earth of Bharat smells the sweetest will ring true only if patriotic passion prevails over the seductive perfumes on duty-free shelves and embedded liberal internationalists in the system.

PRABHU CHAWLA
prabhuchawla@newindianexpress.com Follow him on Twitter @PrabhuChawla

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com