India is currently providing support to multiple groups, but the most to the Big Three — Tata, Ambani and Adani. This risks endless subsidies and protection for investments that never become competitive.
Industrial policy is now favoured by govts the world over. It implies providing subsidies and tariff protection to favoured companies in strategic, green, or sunrise sectors to compete with other countries, above all China, which have supposedly used this policy to rise to the top. Korea succeeded in moving from deep poverty to high-income status by subsidising and protecting the ‘chaebol’, industrial groups like Hyundai and Samsung.
India is currently providing similar support to several groups, but above all to the Big Three — Tata, Ambani and Adani. To catch up with global giants, especially in industries regarded as a mix of strategic and green, the govt is assisting these groups in high-tech areas such as chip fabrication, semiconductors, electric vehicles, solar and wind energy, battery storage systems, green hydrogen and electrolysers. Optimists hope this ‘chaebolisation’ will succeed, arguing that India can surely do what Korea and China did earlier.
India is currently providing similar support to several groups, but above all to the Big Three — Tata, Ambani and Adani. To catch up with global giants, especially in industries regarded as a mix of strategic and green, the govt is assisting these groups in high-tech areas such as chip fabrication, semiconductors, electric vehicles, solar and wind energy, battery storage systems, green hydrogen and electrolysers. Optimists hope this ‘chaebolisation’ will succeed, arguing that India can surely do what Korea and China did earlier.
This article was originally published by The Times of India on Feb 22, 2025.
