‘Make in India everything that we currently import’

BCG India head Rahul Jain has called for a push to local manufacturing, arguing that India is well placed in the current geopolitical situation, thanks to its neutrality.“India comes out as probably one of the best-placed countries, with a very strong neutral position across different countries, and a very strong resource base to provide materials, manpower and different kinds of technologies to the world,” he said.Jain said there was a need for local investment and capability scale-up, offering an opportunity for industry to invest big in manufacturing.“More than the export market, it’s a great opportunity for us to compete and make locally everything we currently import,” he said. He also felt that the free-trade agreements being signed by India will help improve corporate competitiveness.“We will need to innovate and come up with technologically superior products, but at the same time we be cost-competitive. We will need scale; we will need to be frugal; we will need to invest in R&D, which has lagged in the past.”You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.