CORONA: A Missed Opportunity.

France supplied some 10 Million N95 Masks to China and it fights from Viral Epidemic. However, on the contrary, India curbed N95 masks exports, fearing we might need it. Two different responses to the situation. France took it as a sales opportunity and we cowered back.

As the Coronavirus crisis has caught India Off guard,

  1. From trying to make efforts to protect countrymen from the virus itself.
    2. It also exposed India’s Supply chain dependence on Chinese manufactured components. Majorly on Electronics, Pharma.
    3. It also exposes India’s inability to adapt to rapid changes, to tap market opportunities.

An estimated 50000 companies, worldwide, the supply chain is impacted by the Coronavirus outbreak in China. Most suppliers to these companies are based in Hubei Province of China, the epicenter of the outbreak. These suppliers are micro-businesses with 10 employees to 100 employees small businesses, & they are likely to be severely impacted and will have a hard time recovering from the crisis. (https://www.dnb.com/perspectives/supply-chain/wuhan-coronavirus-business-impact.html?SERV=UPPCPOHP323237) These businesses are easy to emulate the crisis has left opened massive business opportunities for India. Either we do or someone else will get it done either way.

Right from our USD 30 Billion Smartphone industry, to grid electricity, Pharma APIs, we are heavily dependent on China. Our bilateral trade is worth USD 87 Billion of which we import $70 B and our export is just $17B. So now we are stuck, Impacted and prolonged crisis in China can disrupt our assembly lines.

Opportunity:

  1. Speed Up Make In India. It will not only make India self-sufficient, even if we become slightly better than what we are today, & most importantly create employment.
    2. Start Manufacturing for Global Markets, exploit our low labor cost. It’s one-third when compared with china’sspiralledlabour cost.
    3. Govt. has to get after creating an ecosystem for promoting manufacturing.

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