MUMBAI: The Indian government is hard pressed to create more jobs and sustainable livelihoods. Chinese products are flowing into the country, providing good value for consumers no doubt, but also killing Indian enterprises and jobs they provide. When the going gets tough, the tough must get going. “Make in India” will remain a slogan if both, the Indian government and Indian entrepreneurs, don’t step up to their challenges.
M.K. Gandhi said that when he was fighting for India’s political freedom, Jamsetji Tata was fighting for India’s economic freedom. Tata put up a modern, integrated steel plant against great resistance from the British government. However, he was determined that India must have industrial capabilities. He turned to American consultants for technological guidance, and to Indian citizens for financial support when the London market turned him away. After India’s independence, its industrial policy nurtured the growth of capabilities within the country. Foreign companies were welcomed to partner with Indian enterprises. Phased manufacturing programmes were mandated, whereby, progressively complex products were made entirely within the country.
The supply chain developed within India created hundreds of thousands of jobs. Tatas built on this foundation, and by the 1970s, exported products as Tata products proudly bearing the Tata logo on the grill in place of the Mercedes star. Moreover, having learned how to make a good truck, Tata’s moved on to improve the design of the truck and even designing new products in its research and development centre.
