India's East Asian Dream

More than anything else, East Asians have valued building credibility and creating a win-win environment, devising and implementing public policies in accordance with these values. Stability and predictability of policies was an overriding objective of policymakers, who refrained from making big promises. Various incentives were also put in place to attract foreign investment and create an environment where domestic industries can learn from foreign counterparts while the latter can easily do businesses. Foreign investments were viewed as the means to improve the skills and capabilities of the workforce and advance technology rather than as competitors with and/or exploiters of domestic industries. China’s “open door policy” clearly demonstrates how creating a win-win environment could yield rapid economic growth, technological advancement, and improvement of physical and human resources. When looking through the prism of East Asian experiences, however, India seems to be heading in the opposite direction. Since its inauguration in May 2014, the Modi government has announced an endless list of flagship projects: Make in India, Digital India, Clean India, Start-up India, Smart City, Skill India, and more