| I’d say an ever bigger roadblock is societal balkanization and resulting incoherent corruption and law enforcement. It’s not uncommon for lawsuits in India to get ‘stuck’ for decades or longer, while squatters do their thing to property without involvement from police, and the mob (as in groups of angry people) just does what it wants with no effective penalties or accountability. India was formed by non-consensually welding together 200+ long term distinct religio-ethno-socio states, and pretending they are all one country. In China, and to a lesser extent Vietnam, it’s a different dynamic. If the communist party likes you, you can do whatever you want and quickly. If they don’t, good luck surviving at all. And the ethnic groups are limited and small minorities. So there is a coherent majority whose interests can be known and that can be appeased. So if you’re in the good graces there, it’s speedy, efficient, and profitable. India, there is no one group effectively in charge (at least anymore), and you’re constantly dealing with having to pay off or work around yet another different group that somehow was able to get themselves in a position they could force you to pay them. Often dozens in any one area. And because the ‘Indian’ identity is relatively weak compared to their more specific ethnic/caste identity, it’s much harder to override for the ‘greater good’. |
Most states in India have a single party ruling, and it's fairly easy to understand who to be chummy with, and how to operate a JV.
The issue is swing states have competing political poles internally, which slows down the ability to operate as you need to deal with 2x the overhead.
Even in China and Vietnam you have a similar mentality, but the difference is it's all part of a single party.
Furthermore, at least in VN's case, you have the exact same problems as India if not worse. The main difference is most factories in VN end up getting built in the Red River Delta region (Hanoi-Haiphong), so there is a strong network effect.
Once you go to other cities in Vietnam (eg. Pleiku, Can Tho) you lack the kind of administration that has experience dealing with foreign investors and businesses, forcing you to have to make JVs.
India is basically a country with 26 Vietnams - some of those states have fairly decent institutional capacity, others less so.