With other countries also in race, make-in-India pitch will be challenging

The government's efforts to persuade global manufacturers to divert production from China may be more difficult than it thinks

The first moves are underway. US mobile device maker Apple Inc is looking at shifting nearly a fifth of its production value from China in the next four years and around seven per cent in the next 12 months. Home-grown Lava International is shifting its entire export production from China to India and even relocating its design centre. German health footwear company Von Wellx is also moving its entire production from China to somewhere in Agra.

This may be just the start, but these shifts are partly the result of the government’s aggressive pitch to woo global companies to reduce