Economics
Biggest Mobile-Phone Plant Masks Modi's ‘Make in India’ Struggle
- India’s prime minister has promoted domestic manufacturing
- But new investments are down, while stalled projects rise
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Despite a sleek marketing campaign, the world isn’t quite ready to ‘Make in India.’
Last week, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South Korean President Moon Jae-in celebrated the inauguration of what Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. called the world’s largest mobile phone factory. At the splashy event just outside New Delhi, Modi said the facility was “extremely important” for his Make in India initiative to boost manufacturing to 25 percent of India’s economy by 2020 and create millions of jobs. Samsung said the plant was a “shining example” of the success of the program.