Following up with this. If India was serious about becoming "the next China". What it is doing today is just so wrong. In a way, how India is competing with China today is like how the Soviets used to compete with the US. Trying to compete in the big and glamourous things, but neglecting to take care of the basic stuff. India is kinda like a lousy version of Russia today. Both can make rockets to send satellites into space, but both cannot produce decent TV sets.
If India wants to become an industrial powerhouse, it first needs to forget about screwing China. Instead of trying to create a new semiconductor industry to rival China, India should have perfected the basics first. India should have already started developing its light industries first. India should have already become a top producer of mugs, toys, stationaries, trinkets, etc. Leverage on the massive under-educated workforce and empower the small businesses to grow and prosper. Later on, when India starts to take a larger share of household goods production in the global market, then India can use its new wealth to build the next industrial stages. Medium industry, heavy industry, and then the service industry to service all that hard industry. This is how the East Asian nations, Bangladesh, and Vietnam have been developing. China in the 1980s was not trying to compete with Japan in the consumer electronics market. China had just focused on producing stuff that Japan doesn't want to produce anymore. Like all those humble household items. China's world-beating industry today was never made overnight. Before China had DJI, China was for more than 20 years, producing toys for the world market. So when DJI appeared, and wanted to make Quadcopters drones, it can easily find local suppliers for brushless DC electric motors, molded plastics, and electronics.
India instead had been jumping all over the place. India spent a lot of effort to develop and market its pharma and IT services industry in 1990s and 2000s. It's hard industry was ok, but hardly comparable to East Asia. It was basically taking advantage of some niche demand in the global market, but it had thought too highly of itself. India in the 2000s boasted about its English-speaking IT professionals, while laughing at China for only knowing how to produce "cheap junk"; as if it was already "more developed" than China.
Then in the Modi era, India suddenly wanted to compete with China in manufacturing, because the West hyped India up as the "next China". Suddenly, India had all these wild fantasies to rival, overtake, and step on China. Yet India aimed too high, while neglecting the step-by-step development of its national industries. India aimed for the glamourous things, like Tata Nano, Jio 5G, iPhone, and HAL Tejas. There are no established, and competent supply chains in India to support these industries. So for example, Tata wants to assemble iPhones, but who in India have the years of experience in manufacturing Apple-spec PCBs? Who in India can produce Apple-quality plastic casings? And not just produce these components, but produce lots of them with world-standard minimal defect rates. That is why Tata have to import components from China, negating the cost benefits of manufacturing in India. Can India build that supply chain? Sure, but it won't be ready by tomorrow. Nevertheless, India still likes to tell Apple to just "Jugaad" (make do). "Jugaad for 3 years sir! India will make it in 3 years time. I promise!". Question is, should Apple wait for 3 years when it already has China today?
India should have learned to walk before it learns to run. But instead, it currently wants to compete in a 400m race, when it had barely learned to walk.
Last edited:
