Factory jobs or more outsourcing? India has a third way

Should India double down on software services, where it has proven prowess and strong outsourcing companies? Or must it follow the successful East Asian model and bet big on factory work to generate mass employment? Maybe there is a third way.

The manufacturing versus services debate has taken a fresh urgency. For the first time, some of the iPhones that customers bought on the launch date of the new model in September were

made in the most-populous nation.

To policymakers, it vindicates the US$24 billion (S$32.9 billion) that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration is spending over five years to promote India as the next China.