Shark Tank India Season 4: Bengaluru entrepreneur takes a jibe at ’Make in India’; here’s why

Shark Tank India Season 4: Bengaluru entrepreneur Aman Rai, who cracked ₹1 crore deal on the show, is making headlines after facing trouble while applying for factory license. The IIT Delhi graduate, who sealed a deal for Aroleap in Shark Tank India, questioned the effectiveness of the government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative.

Taking to social media platform X, he expressed frustration over the difficulties and costs he faced while trying to secure a factory license for his business. He said that he came across a vendor who demanded ₹70,000 as “out-of-pocket expenses” to provide him with the necessary license.

‘Dark side of Make in India’

The post states, “Taking help from a vendor who said ‘out-of-pocket expenses’ in the department will be ~INR 70K!!! (IYKYK). So much for “Make in India” & “Ease of doing business”?” This experience made him question government’s commitment to making business operations easier. This post amassed over 7 crore views and 7.4 thousand likes.

Dismissing the vendor’s demand, he decided to take things in his hands and applied for the process himself, bypassed the vendor. He was astonished to find out that he will be hit with another obstacle and even higher demand to secure a license. In another post he shared, “Dark side of Make in India! Went and filed for the license directly. Being asked for 1L as bribe to get the license now!”

Social media reaction

Social media strongly reacted to the issue while some spoke urged him to fight against the corrupt system while others said that this is the reality.

One user called the tedious process of obtaining a licence a nightmare while sharing his experience, “This is nothing, I’m in the process of getting a GMP FDA manufacturing license for chemical APIs and it’s a nightmare, the amount of bribes and contacts needed to get it, it feels like I’m doing something illegal altogether, ease of business my foot!!!”

Another user sceptical of ‘Make in India’ initiative remarked, “These slogans are to make the common folks feel good about the country, who have no idea what goes on the ground. Your fault if you believed in ‘Make in India & ease of doing business’ ranks.” A third user wrote, “It going to get funnier. Even after everything gets set up and factory starts running, the officials will be paying a visit during festivals too.”

A fourth user recommended, “They will force you to pay, the compliances are made in such a way that its better to pay in many cases.”

Government’s response after the post went viral

In another post, Aman Rai informed that a senior official from the Ministry of Commerce contacted him after the post went viral and vowed to resolve the issue “X is powerful. This blew up, and a senior official from the commerce ministry reached out to understand the issue. Will likely get resolved quickly,” the post reads.