Prime Minister Narendra Modi urges Indian companies to prioritize research and development to create unique products, positioning India as a global innovation leader.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for Indian companies to focus on research and development to manufacture innovative products for global customers aptly sets out the future agenda for the Indian industry.
For several decades, the developed world looked at profit maximisation — the cardinal principle of capitalism — by outsourcing work to Third World countries to reap the benefits of cost arbitrage. This strategy allowed China to become the global factory while India emerged as the global technology hub.
Nevertheless, the rise of hyper-nationalists like Donald Trump in the United States following people’s disenchantment with unfettered globalisation and lack of innovation could force developed countries to focus on bringing back jobs for their local populations.
While it is still unclear whether Trump’s strategy will work as locals will have to bear the resulting rise in prices, India will have to suffer the blowback — at least temporarily.
In India, exports contribute around 23 per cent of economic activity. A large number of people working in sectors such as IT, jewellery and pharmaceuticals depend on American policies. Unless the products they manufacture are unique and innovative, hyper-nationalists like Trump will attempt to get those jobs back to their own countries.
In this scenario, Mr Modi’s emphasis on Indian companies becoming more innovative appears to be a sound strategy. It was this focus on innovation that created superpowers throughout history — Great Britain in the 17th and 18th centuries and the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries.
As long as America had an edge in innovation, it did not hesitate to offshore mundane jobs to India and China. However, as the US has lost its monopoly on technology, it now seeks to reclaim the jobs that it once considered low-skilled. If India aspires to global power status, the time has come for the country to harness its innovative potential for economic growth. This is the moment for India to seize that opportunity and replace the Atma Nirbhar Bharat slogan with Apurva Bharat.
