My views on Modi's "Make In India" initiative

Three-four days ago when I tuned to TV10 News Channel the program being aired was "Good Morning Nageshwar" and while discussing some subject on political matter he made a passing comment on PM's recent "Make In India" campaign and further he also made a mention of Mr. RaghuRam Rajan's statement on "Make For India". Anyhow the PM's campaign has snowballed into a big controversial issue which provoked me to go a little bit deeper into the subject to understand it from proper perspective and hence this write up for the better appreciation of my FB friends and it is for them to judge. Mr Arun Jaitley, Union Finance Minister, when contradicted it recently again it became an issue for arguments and counter arguments.

The fact of the matter is that PM after the launch of program addressed CEOs of both national and International companies as the campaign focused was on MANUFACTURING SECTOR. The question here is will CEOs be able to convince their managements/Boards to invest in  India? In this connection Mr Jagannatha Raju, Professor of Marketing at Wharton says "This is a great idea;.as goods are produced in India, it creates jobs in manufacturing, which in turn creates infrastructure of ancillary industries, resulting in creation of more jobs and thus the economy gets a boost".

But as I know the policy changes to improve the business climate has not yet been initiated, however the PM has assured them that he would replace RED TAPE with RED CARPET. It may please be noted that India is currently ranked 134th in the WORLD BANK's Ease Of Doing Business List.

Mr Modi has taken a position that India must be transparent and efficient, says Mr Bellace, Professor of Legal studies and Business Ethics of Wharton. As could be seen, now what Mr.Modi needs to do is to eliminate out dated legislations while replacing them with up to date laws where ever appropriate and streamline compliance and enforcement procedures. It is also a fact that after a month of announcement of new policy the Govt Of India has amended some of Labor Laws pertaining to system of Inspection of Companies.

I am told that an on line portal called "SHRAM SUVIDHA" has been unveiled  for Employers to submit compliance report for 16 Labor Laws. Mr Modi also said during the launch of the campaign these facilities are what I call "Minimum Govt and Maximum Governence". Further there are certain other measures like portability of Provident Funds designed to benefit employees etc. But I am concerned, as HR person with 35 years of experience, the Industrial Disputes Act, which doesn't allow a company to close down on making losses still remains intact.

If I am right, Mr Modi must be trying to change the mindset that of Labor, of Bureaucrats and Employers while it is also a fact that no one is quarreling with the fact of how to boost the manufacturing. But as per Prof. Pankaj Chandra of IIM Bangalore the Govt must take proactive approach if it wants to get results.The fact remains that in the past the bureaucrats did not do their part of job rather they didn't have strategic framework as per prof. Pankaj 

But I feel before saying anything negative we may have to look at some positive features, like the recent visit by Global Software giant Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella, and he was the third tech giant CEO to meet Modi after the CEOs of Amazon and Facebook. Mr Satya says he is looking forward to partner with Digital India and "Make in India" program of Modi Govt.

In addition, in the recent budget announced by Modi, the modernization of Armed forces got huge allocation. That the funding came in the first six months of new BJP led Govt was indicative of its determination to over come almost a decade of sloth caused by A.K Anthony's bid to keep his image clean while he was defense minister. Much of this for instance, I had read, the submarines and drones will be made within the country and will morally take forward PM's "Make in India" campaign.

In view of all this I feel we allow him more time for realization of such goals or for that matter let us not jump to conclusions.