Rahul Gandhi at Nehru Place Rips Apart ‘Make in India’ Claims
Congress Rahul Gandhi at a Nehru Place mobile phone repair shop on Saturday! (Image INC India)
Rahul Gandhi Calls for Complete Overhaul of Manufacturing Policy
By AMIT KUMAR
NEW DELHI, June 21, 2025 – Congress leader Rahul Gandhi visited Nehru Place, Delhi’s largest electronics hub, on Saturday to highlight what he described as the “hollow” promise of the government’s Make in India initiative. His visit focused on the stark disconnect between “assembled” and “manufactured” in the country.
Interacting with local technicians Shivam and Saif, Gandhi emphasized that, “We import, we assemble, we don’t build.” He pointed out that while iPhones and other electronics may be assembled locally, the critical components continue to be sourced from abroad—mainly China—keeping India locked into a subordinate position in the global manufacturing chain.
Gandhi sat with the two technicians to discuss their works. The two technicians told Gandhi that “all components are sourced from China.” They said that even South Korean mobile phones have China-made components. The Congress leader posted an eight-minute-long video of his conversation with the two technicians.
His comments during the conversation leaned on speech that he had made in the Lok Sabha recently in which the Congress leader had presented a vision for the country. Gandhi in his Lok Sabha speech had argued that India must become a genuine manufacturer of new-age technology goods. He had called for focus on chip manufacturing. The Congress leader had argued that India continues to assemble in place of manufacturing.
Gandhi criticized the Modi government for relying on slogans instead of real economic strategy. “Make in India promised a factory boom,” he said, “so why is manufacturing at record lows, youth unemployment at record highs, and imports from China more than doubled?”
Calling for urgent reforms, he urged policymakers to pivot from passive assembly lines to building robust domestic production capacity. Gandhi proposed honest reforms, financial support for local producers, and mandatory technology transfer, warning that “until India builds here, it’ll keep buying from those who do.”
India’s trade deficit with China surged to a record $99.2 billion in the fiscal year 2024-25, driven by a sharp increase in imports and a decline in exports, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce. Imports from China rose by 11.5% to $113.45 billion, with a notable 25% jump in March 2025 alone to $9.7 billion, largely due to demand for electronics, electric vehicle (EV) batteries, solar cells, and consumer durables. In contrast, India’s exports to China fell by 14.5% to $14.25 billion, with key exports like iron ore, cotton, and marine products unable to compete with China’s high-value industrial goods. This widening gap, up from $85.07 billion the previous year, reflects India’s growing dependency on Chinese goods.
Imports of electronic components, telecom instruments, and computer hardware have surged, with China dominating as India’s top supplier across all eight major industrial product categories. The Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes, intended to boost domestic manufacturing, paradoxically fuel import growth due to their reliance on Chinese parts, with 80-95% of inputs for electronics, EVs, and solar equipment sourced from China.
Gandhi made a host of comments on his return from the Nehru Place market in which he asserted that “assembling gadgets does little to reduce dependency unless core manufacturing capabilities are established locally.” He warned that assembly jobs do not translate into long-term employment or economic resilience.
The Congress leader advocated for industrial strategy overhaul—encompassing incentives, subsidies, stricter localization norms, and technology partnerships—to transition India from a global workshop to a manufacturing powerhouse. His Nehru Place visit adds weight to growing concerns over India’s economic strategy: high on assembly, low on value addition.
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