Modi’s Jobs Crisis Can’t Be Solved Without China
To attract manufacturers, India’s new government needs to lower tariffs and let companies bring their Chinese suppliers with them.
Apple has had a lot of help from its friends.
Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/BloombergIndian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new government, sworn in on Sunday, is weaker than his previous administrations for one main reason: jobs. Voters punished the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party for not producing the kind of solid employment opportunities expected of a rising superpower. If policymakers want to change that, they need to better appreciate how modern supply chains work.
The jobs crisis is most evident in manufacturing. For several years now, officials have assumed that companies seeking to build new supply chains outside an increasingly risky and expensive China would turn naturally to India — also a large market, with more predictable politics and cheaper labor.