The lab engineered global pandemic had caused supply chain shocks as the flow of materials was disrupted and the search for alternative supply chain destination started in wake of escalating conflict between China & the democratic free world.
And India with the GDP of $2.6 Trillion emerged as viable alternative with large untapped capacity to absorb the supply chain vaccum created by possible exodus of companies from China. America being the largest economy and vibrant democracy found India the world’s largest democracy, being natural partner with highly skilled English speaking workforce and the economy which is poised to grow at $5 Trillion with rising disposable income.
In the gloom caused by COVID 19 India has emerged as global pharmacy of the world. Adapting to the situation and global demand India initially exported hydroxychloroquine, paracetamol to over 40 countries. The pharma sector known for its innovation and producing high quality medicine at low cost also arose to occassion to expedite human clinical trials for COVID-19 Vaccine. India is the largest producer of vaccines in the world with 60 percent of vaccines supplied in the world. Serum Institute of India is the worlds largest vaccine manufacturer, Bharat Biotech, Biological E Ltd,Aurobindo Pharma,Dr Reddy’s and Hetero have been involved in vaccine development & manufacturing process. The companies have scaled up cold-chain infrastructure for vaccine transportation.
With the proven track record of India being largest producers of drugs both in value and volume terms, and has the second-largest number of Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Indian Vaccines command reputations for its safety and efficacy owing to rigorous quality controls & record of successful mass immunization programs for hundreds of millions of people at home against other diseases.
India also demonstrated of developing indigenous supply chain of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits during pandemic within two months to become ₹10,000-crore industry. And the domestic ventilator industry has supplied 96% of 60,000 ordered by the Union Govt and due to cost advantage the the life saving medical equipments has huge export potential.
And sensing the opportunity major global corporations are looking for new growth drivers with India’s domestic market to capitalize on the growing opportunity. Under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Initiave drive of Union Govt and along with strong progressive leadership in Uttar Pradesh around 100 multi national corporations like Lockheed Martin, Adobe, Honeywell, Boston Scientific,Cisco Systems,UPS,FedEx, Mastercard etc were looking to relocate their operations from China to the state due to creation of a robust support infrastructure in terms of roads, water supply, irrigation capacity and 24×7 power supply.
Smartphone major Samsung has decided to invest Rs.4825 crore to shift China mobile display factory to NCR in Uttar Pradesh after establishing manufacturing unit in Noida in 2018.
Apple contract manufacturers Foxconn, Hon Hai, Wistron, Pegatron are also looking to establish their manufacturing bases in India with planned investment of $900 Million to manufacture iPhone 12 Series in India.
Apart from American companies Japanese companies with expertise in infrastructure, energy and manufacturing are looking to scale up their investment plans in India. The Delhi–Mumbai Industrial Corridor Project (DMIC) & Mumbai–Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Corridor built with Japanese expertise & funding is likely to be operational by 2021.
UAE has sealed pact with India to invest $7 Billion in agriculture sector with plan to use India as a food security base. The investment will benefit around 2 million Indian farmers creating additional 200,000 jobs through the establishment of logistical infrastructure & agricultural projects. And the UAE based Lulu Group International has announced to plan to set up a food processing centre in Srinagar. Apart from Agriculture the country sovereign wealth funds are actively investing in India’s infrastructure projects as well.
And India has become preferred investment decision with many more countries in the west with United Kingdom looking to the UK is looking for a biggest BREXIT trade deal with India which could be worth up to £100 billion. India has inked defense pact with France and Indian and French defence enterprises have entered into arrangements for co-development and co-production of defence equipment in India. The trade is likely to increase to $16.7 Billion by 2022 between two nations.
And Union Minister Nitin Gadkari announced that Tesla will be coming to India in early 2021. The company has announced it will set up manufacturing and assembly lines in India for its electric car manufacturing and battery storage production in the future. And to develop 5G enabled Infrastructure JIO platforms have raised around Rs. 1,50,161 crores by diluting 32.55% stake to Facebook, Silver lake, VISTA, General Atlantic, KKR, Mubadala, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, TPG,L. Catterton,Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia,Qualcomm, Google. The telecom giant is set for big leap in future new age technologies like cloud computing, IOT, Robotics Process Automation, Artificial Intelligence, AR, VR due to investment from tech majors.
All these developments show that India has become preferred investment destination in the wake of foreign policy which is driven to improve bilateral ties and stich multilateral arrangements like Indo Pacific alliance to establish itself as responsible global power & check the Chinese expansionist agenda.
