🔁Mario Nawfal:
🇮🇳INDIA’S MOMENT: CAN IT BUILD A KINDER, SMARTER VERSION OF CHINA?
India has a once-in-a-generation chance to transform the global manufacturing map.
The country is not just trying to replace China as “the world’s factory” — it has the opportunity to create a model that is faster, fairer, and fundamentally more humane.
The numbers explain the ambition. India produced 43 million iPhones last year. Apple expects 25 percent of its global iPhone production to move to India by the end of 2024.
Tesla is exploring Indian sites. Google’s Pixel 8 is now assembled there.
In a world where tariffs could soon drive Chinese-made iPhones above $3,000 in the United States, the pressure for companies to diversify is no longer optional.
It is existential.
But the reality on the ground is far less tidy. India still commands less than 3 percent of global manufacturing output. China, even with all its troubles, controls nearly 30 percent.
Half of India’s workforce remains trapped in agriculture. Power grids are shaky. Roads are clogged. Logistics costs eat up 14 percent of GDP, nearly double the efficiency China achieved.
Even Apple — the most fanatically controlled production ecosystem in the world — is facing the cracks.
Tata Electronics, India’s rising star in iPhone production, reportedly failed 50 percent of Apple’s quality inspections in 2023.
India’s iPhone factories still quietly depend on Chinese engineers to train local workers and fine-tune assembly lines.
It is the industrial equivalent of moving out of your parents’ house, only to ask them to come over every night to fix the plumbing.
And yet: the opportunity is real.
India has what China no longer does — a booming young population, a democracy (however messy), and the possibility of building a supply chain free from mass surveillance, forced labor, and authoritarian demands.
If India manages to rise, it could offer the world something rare: goods made cheaply
🇮🇳INDIA’S MOMENT: CAN IT BUILD A KINDER, SMARTER VERSION OF CHINA?
India has a once-in-a-generation chance to transform the global manufacturing map.
The country is not just trying to replace China as “the world’s factory” — it has the opportunity to create a model that is faster, fairer, and fundamentally more humane.
The numbers explain the ambition. India produced 43 million iPhones last year. Apple expects 25 percent of its global iPhone production to move to India by the end of 2024.
Tesla is exploring Indian sites. Google’s Pixel 8 is now assembled there.
In a world where tariffs could soon drive Chinese-made iPhones above $3,000 in the United States, the pressure for companies to diversify is no longer optional.
It is existential.
But the reality on the ground is far less tidy. India still commands less than 3 percent of global manufacturing output. China, even with all its troubles, controls nearly 30 percent.
Half of India’s workforce remains trapped in agriculture. Power grids are shaky. Roads are clogged. Logistics costs eat up 14 percent of GDP, nearly double the efficiency China achieved.
Even Apple — the most fanatically controlled production ecosystem in the world — is facing the cracks.
Tata Electronics, India’s rising star in iPhone production, reportedly failed 50 percent of Apple’s quality inspections in 2023.
India’s iPhone factories still quietly depend on Chinese engineers to train local workers and fine-tune assembly lines.
It is the industrial equivalent of moving out of your parents’ house, only to ask them to come over every night to fix the plumbing.
And yet: the opportunity is real.
India has what China no longer does — a booming young population, a democracy (however messy), and the possibility of building a supply chain free from mass surveillance, forced labor, and authoritarian demands.
If India manages to rise, it could offer the world something rare: goods made cheaply
15 hours ago
