Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Make in India – not a bad idea!' that was published in Newsband

Make in India – not a bad idea!

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Make in India campaign deserves to be appreciated. It shows that the new government has both the willingness and capacity to implement reforms necessary to restore some of India’s lost growth potential. His FDI — First Develop India — was a signal to companies that his government would create an enabling environment for investment,

His promise to create a ‘business-friendly’ environment is probably more appropriate in today’s context of fiscal prudence. It is indeed imperative that the government’s actions should match its words. The idea of Make in India is good but is it pragmatic in its ideals? How many of these new schemes are beneficial for the poor Indians who are the first and foremost stakeholders of this country in the sense they have been living with their basic rights such as food, education and health not fulfilled? Is Make in India a pro rich project and not a pro poor which is what we are expecting from this government?

It is said that 'Make in India' is a step forward towards having an effective government policy. There is no doubt that Modi is indeed trying his best to set his priorities straight without any ambiguity.

From that angle, Make In India and FDI (First Develop India) is a welcome step. Diplomatic relation and Persuasion power of Modi will certainly be helpful in terms of transfer of modern technology and share of knowledge between countries. Prosperity of India is linked with prosperity of Asia and World too. Major challenge would be to make the Make In India and FDI initiative inclusive. Every section of society should be get benefited out of it.

Business-friendly should not mean the kind of crony capitalism encouraged and exploited by politician-corporate nexus in UPA government. The policy framework should be transparent unlike the allocation of coal mines or 2G waves to illegally benefit the crooks in politics and business. Modi's policies and decisions will be x-rayed by people and at the same time Congress and anti-BJP media will be ready to punch which is any way their job to do that.

Along with encouraging foreign investors, it is very important that Modi also promotes research and development in India. By doing so, the term 'Make in India' will attain its full meaning. Many technicians and engineers are migrating to foreign nations due to lesser opportunities of research in their home country. This should stop.

Modi's anticipation for pushing India to development mode is appreciable, but at the same time these are to be dealt in a pragmatic way. As today's industry along with public representatives is caught up with overwhelming corruption and fiscal condition is in precarious situation, there is an urgent need of reciprocity and trust of transparent nature between the government and industry.

As far as PM is concerned he is doing his best to breathe new life to India's financial condition, but the onus also lies on council of ministers who are heading various departments as they should be conscious of their individual responsibilities and expertise in such a way that they could find certain pros and cons for implementing various policies.