The Make in India Campaign will only succeed if there is a thrust on technology and product development, said Pawan Goenka, Mahindra’s executive director and president of the automotive and farm equipment sector. He added that without being able to produce our technology and products we will never truly be a manufacturing nation.
He said that unless technology and product development were given an equal boost, a nation would always remain a subcontractor and would keep its focus mostly on labour cost arbitrage. In the statement, he hinted that it was time for India made products to be aspirations for people to own rather than due to their low-cost nature.
He said that the campaign had four distinct components-Indian companies making products for India and export markets as well as MNCs making products for the Indian market as well as export markets. Each component had to be treated individually while making policies for them.
Goenka also stressed that India needed to have a higher share of MNCs making products locally for export markets. The Make in India campaign was initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a bid to bring more companies to setup operations locally and in turn add jobs to the economy.