REFORMS IN A NUTSHELL

The Narendra Modi government had initiated the Make in India programme as 2014, its very first year, as early with the idea of turning the country into a leading global manufacturing and investment destination. But that wasn't going to be easy.

- M.G. Arun

China was still a favourite manufacturing hub for global companies, having greatly improved the quality and scale of its production. However, towards the turn of the decade, a host of events conspired to bring India into the limelight, notably the subsidies war between the US and China, followed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Global manufacturing giants realised the need to further their China Plus One' strategy that would insulate their supply chains from disruptions in China. The Modi government plunged right into action to capitalise on this new opportunity.

The Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, launched in May 2022, aimed to create a self-reliant India by fostering its manufacturing capabilities and inviting more global firms to invest here.

There are few better suited to give an insider's account of the reforms in the Modi era than seasoned bureaucrat and G20 Sherpa of India in its presidency year, Amitabh Kant. In his book Made in India: 75 Years of Business and Enterprise, Kant first builds the context to these reforms. He dwells on the enterprising quality of India's industrial stalwarts, right from Independence in 1947, as well as major policy decisions that supported them. In that sense, the book is the perfect anthology of past policies in a nutshell-the initial socialist thrust, the phase of extreme state control or 'Licence Raj', the big turning point of liberalisation, the growth years following the stimulus splurge after the 2008 financial meltdown, the policy paralysis at the end of UPA-2, to the present. Those wanting to take a deep dive into each of these policies need to look elsewhere. That's not Kant's idea in the book.