India Must Take Hints from China’s Global Supply Chain Model: Prabhu
| Didhiti Ghosh, Bureau Chief, IOP, Kolkata - 30 Apr 2019

India Must Take Hints from China’s Global Supply Chain Model: Prabhu

By Didhiti Ghosh, Bureau Chief (Kolkata), Indian Observer Post

  • National Democratic Alliance will win 350 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections
  • Modi govt has set a target of attracting USD 100 billion in FDI over the next two years
  • India has overtaken China with USD 38 billion in inbound FDI deals compared to China's USD 32 billion in 2018
  • India’s GDP on Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) equals USD 11.41 trillion and it is already the 3rd largest after China and the United States
  • India must welcome human skillset development whereby new inventions in the agro-industry, science and IT sectors will foster all-round development in manufacturing
  • India is the fastest growing economy in the world today, and by the year 2030 it will become the third largest
  • India must take hints from China’s policy of global involvement on the supply chain model, as China has proven to have one of the highest savings in the world
  • China having in possession the largest hydro-electric power plant in the world & the largest industry in the world, India and China have a good opportunity for connecting
  • The number of start-ups has almost doubled in the past 1 year
  • West Bengal is a potential source of investment in New India

Kolkata, April 30, 2019: Confident of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rising popularity, Union Minister for Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation Suresh Prabhu has said that the National Democratic Alliance will win 350 seats in the Lok Sabha elections. Prabhu also said that the government has set a target of attracting USD 100 billion in Foreign Direct Investments over the next two years. He was speaking in a seminar organized by Swadeshi Research Institute & Dr Syama Prasad Mookherjee Research Foundation in Kolkata on 27th April 2019 on the topic “Perspectives on New India.”

The seminar was also participated by Dr Swapan Dasgupta, MP Rajya Sabha; Dr Anirban Ganguly, Director, Syama Prasad Mookherjee Research Foundation; Dr Dhanpat Ram Agarwal, Director, Swadeshi Research Institute and Shishir Bajoria, State Executive, BJP & Chairman, IIM Shillong.

PM Modi first spoke of his dream of having a “New India” in March 2017, the idea of which welcomed a country free of poverty, dirt, corruption, terrorism, casteism, communalism, and the dream veritably to be achieved by 2022, the year of its 75th Independence Anniversary. Union Minister Suresh Prabhu forged the idea by further stating that India, boosted by the USD 16-billion Walmart-Flipkart deals last August, which is the biggest-ever foreign fund inflow into the country, the year 2018, saw for the first time in two decades India overtaking China with USD 38 billion in inbound FDI deals compared to China's USD 32 billion. 

“India is the fastest growing economy in the world today, and by the year 2030 it will become the third largest. The country is likely to increase from the present level of USD 2.9 trillion to USD 5 trillion in 2025 and further to USD 10 trillion by 2032. The Country’s GDP on Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) equals USD 11.41 trillion and it is already the 3rd largest after China and the United States, which come in the first and second positions, respectively,” said Prabhu, while highlighting the fact that the GDP growth rate of India in 2018 was 7.1%, compared to China’s 6.6% the same year. “India must take hints from China’s policy of global involvement in the supply chain model, as China has proven to have one of the highest savings in the world.”

Further predictions say that by FY 2020, the growth rate of China will decline to 6.1% and that of India will climb to 7.5%. The global growth rate during the corresponding period of 2019 & 2020 will be 3.3% and 3.6% respectively and the same for the US will be 1.8% and 1.7% respectively.

Other major deals included Unilever buying out GSK’s consumer business in the country for over INR 31,700 crores, Schneider Electric, TPG Capital, KKR, Softbank, and Alibaba among others. 

"We have achieved record FDI inflows last year. We have set a target and are already working on bringing in USD 100 billion FDI (by 2020)," Prabhu said at the Indian Chamber of Commerce event.  The minister said the government is conducting a sector analysis for FDI investments and is preparing suitable policies which will help in bringing foreign funds. 

"If you remove the hurdles for investments, we can see investments coming in from all sources portfolio, FDI or domestic. In our first three years, we invested INR 2.75 lakh crores in railways as compared to cumulative INR 3 lakh crores in the previous 70 years," he said. 

However, Prabhu also mentioned that at par with the economy, India must also welcome human skillset development whereby new inventions in the agro-industry, science, and IT sectors will foster all-round development in manufacturing, agriculture and service sectors through innovation. At the same time, artificial intelligence must embrace the power of human intellectual labour engendering newer start-ups and creating a world-class infrastructure through inter and intra-geographical connectivity among rural and urban sectors.

Whereas Dr Dhanpat Ram Agarwal, Director of Swadeshi Research Institute mentioned that the target of a “New India” entails the target of having a “Rin-mukt” (free of financial burden) India, Dr. Anirban Ganguly, Director of SP Mookherjee Research Foundation praised Prabhu for acting as the “Sherpa of PM Modi” in the latter’s bid to drive a positive change in India.

Swapan Dasgupta, MP of Rajya Sabha mentioned that the fact that a “New India” exists both at a conceptual and at a policy level creates a ground for setting developmental goals higher than what had been its mark set previously. He also mentioned in the past 5 years the quality of Railway services has improved significantly, with a reduction in the number of potholes and crimes. India must never tolerate the concept of small-scale people being inefficient, but being able enough to contribute to the country’s growth. The Swachh Bharat is just a step forward with many more developmental plans to emerge in the next ministerial tenure. “Modi is a political leader with a phenomenal difference, and his commitment for India overrides that of all others,” said Dasgupta.

“On the economic front, in 2014 India was the 9th largest economy in the world. In 2017, India became the 6th largest and in January 2019 it overtook the UK to become the 5th largest economy. We will work together to generate a USD 5 trillion economy by 2025,” remarked Shishir Bajoria. India must invest PPP in the hands of the people, and under the Mudra Scheme INR, 2.8 lakh crores have been disbursed to 5.4 lakh borrowers averaging INR 52,000 per borrower, till date.

“The uniqueness of the person himself will decide the country’s future, as the BJP encourages harnessing talents from all segments of society,” said Bajoria.

With the population growth of India crossing thresholds, more opportunities must arise to economically engage the people. With China having in possession the largest hydro-electric power plant in the world, the largest industry in the world and the highest investment potential in the world, India, and China have a good opportunity for connecting via ties in bilateral trade & commerce.

Engaging people through economic activities and enhanced self-esteem will be more beneficial than getting doles for the smaller & emerging sectors. The villages of India have extreme potential, and the Govt must invest in these areas, at the same time rejuvenating old industries. This is already being complemented by the Central ruling party’s plan to work on the ease of doing business in every district of India and encourage entrepreneurship development. “The number of start-ups has almost doubled in the past 1 year, and the BJP is looking forward to multiplying the effect. India must substitute the ‘money order economy’ with a more inclusive economy,” remarked Prabhu.

West Bengal has a commendable power-house of resources and a friendly approach between the Centre and the States will boost the former’s investment potential.  

(DIDHITI GHOSH is the Director of a cultural-exchange radio programme at Radio Satelitevisión y Americavisión, Chile. She is a professor & a certified conference interpreter of the Spanish language and is the Bureau Chief of INDIAN OBSERVER POST based in Kolkata. Contact: didhiti.24@gmail.com).

(Onkareshwar Pandey is Editor in Chief & CEO - Indian Observer Post. He is a former Senior Group Editor- Rashtriya Sahara (Hindi & Urdu) and also former Editor - News, ANI. http://bit.ly/2mh7hih).

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