‘Make in India’ slogan a big joke, say industrialists

Shivani Bhakoo

Advertisement

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, July 27

The “Make in India” slogan seems to have hit badly. At least this is what industrialists here feel. They say that the Modi government has failed to perform its duty for the growth and development of industries in India, which is clearly shown in the Government of India’s own data on import and export.

During the tenure of Manmohan Singh in 2014, imports from China to India were Rs 3,09,235 crore, while in 2017-18, the import has increased to Rs 4,91,542 crore.

The industrialists said the “Make in India” slogan was a farce while the reality was that the government’s data had exposed its own “anti-industrial” policies.

Badish Jindal, president of the Federation of Punjab Small Industries Association, said though India and China was having a roller-coaster relationship, Indian government’s policies were supporting the Chinese companies to destroy the Indian economy.

“The “Make in India” slogan seems like a big joke when we go through the data of export and imports of India of the past four years. The policies of the government are allowing the Chinese companies to enter one of the biggest consumer markets like India. The data of import and export may prove to be an eye opener for the Indian Government which is going to sign a Free Trade Agreement with China. The data shows that in the past four years, there is a direct increase of import of products; around 60 per cent. In 2014, exports from India to China were of Rs 90,561 crore, which came down to Rs 86,015 crore in 2017-18, which means there is a dip of about five per cent in exports,” rued Jindal.

Jindal has also written a letter regarding this to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said India’s total export data also showed a setback for Indian industries as the increase in exports from India to other countries was merely from Rs 19,05,011 crore to Rs 19,55,541 crore, which means just an increase of 2.5 per cent during the past four years or around less than 0.60 per cent per year.

“These figures clearly prove how the Indian industries were made scapegoats of Chinese economy. The most sufferer of this is the MSME sector as the government allowed the easy imports of products manufactured by this sector,” rued Jindal.

“The government is going to sign the FTA with China for 3,000 items, including textile and garments. The meeting regarding this is on July 27. We wish all manufacturers to come forward and protest against the move unitedly to save our own industry. If this was the policy, why “Make in India” was highlighted by the government,” said Narinder Chugh, member of the Apparel Export Promotion Council.