Editorial: Don’t let ‘Make in India’ become ‘Fake in India’

Chennai

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s clarion call of Vocal for Local issued during the beginning of the pandemic was aimed at providing Indian manufacturers with an impetus to stay competitive in the face of increasing globalisation and the influx of international products. But the short-sightedness of the ambitious localisation programmes became visible early in May when COVID-19 had begun spreading across the country. In a strange turn of events, indigenous makers of PPE suits were faced with the danger of shutting down their units, despite churning out between 4.5 to 5 lakh PPE suits per day and turning India into the second-largest maker of PPE suits in the world. The reason was that there was a huge shortage of local orders, coupled with a drop in rates, which led to a pile-up of lakhs of suits in their units due to overproduction. Luckily, for them, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade stepped in and allowed the export of PPE suits to an extent of 50 lakh units per month.

Policy hurdles such as these have often deterred well-intentioned industrialists, especially those at the helm of MSMEs to fully explore the potential of their businesses. Today, over 30,000 weavers of Kancheepuram’s famed silk saris are cash strapped as the festive season has been ravaged by the pandemic. Business losses are in the range of 60 to 70 pc between March and October this year. And things are not going to get better anytime soon as it might take a few months before weavers here witness revenues returning to half of the pre-pandemic times. It’s a fallout of envisioning a locally driven business model that does not factor in contingencies, welfare schemes, or government-enabled access to international markets that could help mitigate such events.

A pain point facing businessmen is that of counterfeit goods. ‘Fake in India’ seems to be a catchphrase many spurious operators have latched onto – simply because it’s easier and cheaper to rip off an existing technology or a top-selling product than to pour crores of rupees into R & D and plain old school innovation. Earlier this month, the Tirupur police made arrests in connection with the manufacturing and sale of over 400 counterfeit face masks, affixed with the logo of a reputed textile brand in Coimbatore. According to the Authentication Solution Providers’ Association (ASPA), counterfeit products across different sectors in India have brought about losses to the tune of Rs 1 lakh crore annually. ASPA’s ‘The State of Counterfeiting in India – 2020’ report suggests that instances of counterfeiting reported in the country have risen by 24% - from 463 incidents reported in the year 2018 to 572 incidents in 2019.

But it’s not all gloom and doom as far as the notion of Swadeshi is concerned. The Centre is now ironing out the finer details of a new National Textile Policy, which was delayed due to COVID, but will be unveiled soon. The policy was drafted in consultation with members of the Textile Ministry and stakeholders in the industry and will address concerns including free trade agreements with the UK, EU, Bangladesh, and other nations, to boost exports. A similar approach is necessary for enabling the other priority sectors as per Make in India. The gung-ho spirit of this movement implies that industrialists have an adequate support system to fall back on – not just in terms of manufacturing facilities, infrastructure or subsidies, but a clear policy framework that positively enables their business as well as offers opportunities to promote and market their wares far and wide. In the absence of such conducive measures, India’s Vocal for Local call may remain as just lip service.