How practical do you think is the Public Procurement Order by the GOI?

Government of India issued Public Procurement as part of the government’s policy to encourage the ‘Make in India’ and promote it among the companies who are either producers and manufactures of good or services sold in India but produced outside.

This is a good initiative by the government and at different levels the process has been implemented. Once every company decides to do their bit and support the ‘Make in India’ initiative, this will be practical. In the long run it is going to beneficial to India.

Legrand has always supported the Make in India initiative. We have manufacturing facilities across 70 countries out of which 15 facilities are in India. When Legrand entered Indian market, we started with importing products and selling them here as a purely marketing and sales organisation. In due course of time, Legrand started manufacturing and designing their products in India. India has now gained the expertise that enables it to export products, which are designed and manufactured in the country. Our Mylinc range of switches has been designed specifically for the Indian market post the R&D by our team here.

The government’s intent of public procurement, as part of its policy to encourage ‘Make in India’ and promote manufacturing and production of goods and services in India with a view to enhancing income and employment, will definitely help the local manufacturers build their capacity. But on the flipside, the solar sector in India still imports over 90 per cent of the equipments, mostly solar modules, which might affect the present rates because the country is yet to achieve economies of scale.

As per the order, purchase preference should be given to local suppliers in all procurements undertaken by procuring entities in the manner specified and the minimum local content shall ordinarily be 50 per cent. Since India’s GDP is still service-oriented, a macro perspective is extremely important to ensure a completely inclusive growth from all stakeholders. The focus should be to jack up the R&D capabilities of the manufacturing companies so that they can not only assemble in India, but also develop the technology indigenously.