US-India forum's reports identify strategies for India to become reliable manufacturing hub

Washington [US], December 7 : The US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) released two new reports that focus on identifying strategies for India to succeed at becoming a reliable manufacturing hub.
The two reports titled "Enhancing India's Global Value Chain Competitiveness" and "Shifting Global Value Chains to India" outline ways that India can enhance its competitiveness in Global Value Chains, along with addressing current challenges related to the country's Ease of Doing Business (EODB).
The reports were released during a virtual event on Tuesday.
Mukesh Aghi, president and CEO of USISPF, at the launch event said: "Since coming to power in 2014, Prime Minister Modi has made it a priority to enhance India's ranking in the Ease of Doing Business Index. Furthermore, the pandemic era has disrupted supply chains, encouraging countries to focus on rebuilding resilient supply chains and economies."
"These two reports touch on how India has enhanced its fundamentals to improve the business environment and supply chain connectivity. We are confident of the progress made and look forward to working on future reforms with our colleagues in the government and private sector," he added.
The first report, "Enhancing India's GVC Competitiveness," highlights that in the post-pandemic world, global firms' interest to diversify can fulfill India's need to make its manufacturing sector more competitive under the "Aatmnirbhar" (self-reliance) Initiative while creating numerous high-paying jobs.
Through its participation in Global Value Chains (GVCs), India can become a reliable manufacturing hub, but must first enhance its competitiveness.
This report offers an analysis of India's competitiveness in comparison with Thailand and Vietnam in Ease of Doing Business (EODB), Cost of Doing Business, and Labor Markets. It also identifies specific areas of improvement and provides recommendations for Indian policymakers.
The first report makes specific recommendations for enhancing the Ease of Doing Business, Improving Labor Productivity, Cutting Cost of Doing Business.
The second report, "Shifting GVCs to India," focuses on the reasons and areas where current gaps are, and how such gaps can be bridged through policy intervention, thereby improving India's competitiveness. The report provides a comparative analysis and evaluation of the EODB in India viz-a-viz Vietnam and Thailand specifically for moving goods across borders in the supply chain.
The two reports assert that addressing these gaps through the adoption of global best practices in standards and customs and ensuring a reliable policy environment while enhancing and streamlining logistics, can boost India's global share of exports, attract investments, and develop its manufacturing sector.
The reports were released at a virtual event, which included special remarks by Manmeet Nanda, Joint Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry; Gaurav Masaldan, Joint Secretary (Customs), Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance and Saurabh Gaur, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. An interactive industry discussion was moderated by Atul Dhawan, Chairperson of Deloitte India.