Research talk on mastering the make-in-India challenge

Abstract

Despite India’s economic growth and potential, developing a successful strategy for the country remains one of the most complex challenges for foreign multinationals. This challenge is rooted in the hard realities of global scale and costs. Most foreign executives have found it difficult to make money in India with their existing product portfolios at the scale of operations dictated by local demand. In addition, India has not provided foreign direct investment incentives anywhere near those of neighboring China. However, U.S. management consulting firm A.T. Kearney estimated in 2014 that India’s share of global trade would be approximately five times greater by 2025 — and at that point would represent 6% of all global trade.1 Given that growth projection, waiting for a target income segment to reach the break-even level or for greater government incentives to materialize is not the right strategy.