The veteran investor Shankar Sharma thought that he had come across a sign of the rise in the manufacture of India – a workshop cluttered in a slum of Mumbai promising tailor -made gym equipment with a varnish in the catalog.
“We are finally at the forefront of a manufacturing boom,” he recalls. But optimism is quickly.
“I asked,” Can you really do that to me? “”, Wrote Sharma on X. “He said:” Sir, I matter from China and I assembled it here. Their quality, finish, look, is simply insensible. “”
The exchange, although simple, offered a reality that gives to think: even at the base, Indian manufacturing is often a label in addition to the Chinese supply. Sharma called him a “true story of yesterday”. For many, this is the story of today – and the reason why the dream “China + 1” always feels out of reach.
Several users responded to the Sharma post with a feeling of similar resignation. “I think it’s time for the world to change their contradictory approach in China. You just have to accept it. They beat everyone,” wrote a user. Another added: “We cannot even make everyday items such as nail mowers, luggage or bathroom scales with quality that China does. Cars and electronics toh door ki baat hai. “
Sharma’s position arrives at a time when India is widely considered a potential alternative to China in world supply chains – a story that has grown during the pandemic and was still accelerated by the American trade war. With the American prices on Chinese exports now up to 145% and India being spared under new reciprocal service rules, the moment seems ripe for a change. But the reality of the soil remains more complex.
A major obstacle, according to experts, lies in the regulatory laboratory of India. A prosperiti study, cited in the 2023-24 economic study, reveals how restrictive construction regulations – from setbacks and parking mandates to floor space ratios – oblige factories to abandon massive parts of usable land. In some states, small factories would lose up to 90% of their plot area just to comply with building codes, which makes effective manufacturing almost impossible.
Compared to countries like Singapore, Hong Kong or even the Philippines, where industrial land is used much more effectively, Indian manufacturers remain in a box – literally and structurally.
The survey notes that unlocking manufacturing growth will not only require incentives or capital, but a serious reform of how land is regulated and that factories are allowed to evolve. Until then, as shown in the brief meeting of Sharma in a slum in Mumbai, the factories of India can continue to build dreams on Chinese pieces.
