Friday, September 26, 2014: World’s biggest manufacturers were a part of today’s ‘Make in India’ campaign launch, which means India will become a global platform for investments in the manufacturing sector. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to shed the country’s tarnished image, due to high taxation so far.
‘Make in India’ campaign witnessed presence of the likes of CEOs of Airbus, Mercedes-Benz and Samsung Electronics as Modi is trying to make the country as a global manufacturing hub. A keynote address from Modi was the highest point of interest at the event. As global figures were invited to the launch, it can be inevitably said that foreign investors are at the main focus so that they start considering India as a large business platform.
Recently India was placed at 134th position by the World Bank among 189 economies, as a business platform, while China was ranked at 96th. British mobile company Vodafone engaged in a $2.4 billion tax dispute with the Indian government while Nokia, the Finnish brand, had to undergo a plant seize in India over a tax row. Modi came to power with an oath that he will revive the Indian economy, which has been through the worst slowdown in last two decades.
Since May, Modi has already grabbed investments of around $34 billion from Japan and $20 billion from China. To guide the foreign investors, an Invest India unit has been revamped which will function as the “first reference point” for the global investors. A new web portal, www.makeinindia.com, has also been created to address all investment related queries. The manufacturing push from Indian government has arrived at such a point of time when global companies are looking for an alternative to China. An independent economist based in Delhi, Anjan Roy, said India has the potential to become an alternative to China.
