‘Stop looking for a China fix’: Jaishankar on how Indian economy, businesses can grow

External affairs minister S Jaishankar was speaking at an event to launch the book “Made In India” by the country’s G20 Sherpa, Amitabh Kant

NEW DELHI: India’s economy can grow and become stronger only if the focus is shifted to deep manufacturing capabilities and businesses “stop looking for a China fix”, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said on Wednesday.

External affairs minister S Jaishankar said India mustn’t let other businesses enjoy advantages in our country at the expense of our own (Twitter/DrSJaishankar)

Jaishankar made the remarks at an event to launch the book “Made In India” by the country’s G20 Sherpa, Amitabh Kant. They also come in the backdrop of the dragging military standoff with China on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) that has taken bilateral ties to a six-decade low while trade has continued to boom.

“I think we need to stop looking for a China fix, that Indian growth cannot be built on Chinese efficiency, that ultimately if we are really to sustain and take the economy to a different level, we have to create the kind of domestic vendor change that a serious manufacturing economy will do,” Jaishankar told a gathering that included ambassadors and leading businesspeople.

Such a change won’t happen overnight, though the government has made building a deep manufacturing supply chain a priority. In this context, he referred to the government’s production-linked incentives (PLI) initiative that is aimed at energising the economy and motivating businesses to believe “it is possible to manufacture in India”.

In addition to “Make in India”, businesses have to “think in India” and devise their own solutions. Opening up the economy and globalisation should not lead to deindustrialising the country, Jaishankar said.

“We should not allow a level playing field in this country for others who subsidise efforts, that’s not a level playing field, that is economic suicide...Every country must support its manufacturers [and] businesses. We mustn’t let other businesses enjoy advantages in our country at the expense of our own,” he said.

Despite the standoff on the LAC, data issued by China’s customs department in January showed bilateral trade in 2022 was worth $135.98 billion, up by 8.4% over $125 billion in 2021. China’s exports to India rose to $118.5 billion while China’s imports from India fell from $28.1 billion to $17.48 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 37.9%.

While addressing the gathering, Kant said his book looks at the history of the past 75 years, from the point where India accounted for 24% of global GDP when it was colonised by the British to its share of global GDP falling to about 5% by the time it gained independence.

“The private sector has to be the wealth creator. No country in the world has grown on the back of the public sector...The government has to be a facilitator, a catalyst, and has to work on education, health and nutrition and bring in the right policy framework,” he said.

“So this book is about how the private sector must flourish in India and how the government must retreat in a vast range of areas,” he added. “My belief is that India needs to fire on all cylinders, not merely in services, but also manufacturing, agricultural productivity and urbanisation for it to grow on a large scale over a long period of time.”