India launches campaign to boost manufacturing

NEW DELHI (AP) — India's prime minister has launched a campaign to entice investment and promote the country as the world's next cheap labor economy.

The "Make in India" campaign is as much a slick marketing campaign as it is a promise to streamline bureaucracy and make India investor friendly.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at a launch event Thursday that "the whole world is ready to come here."

India's 1.2 billion people are anxious to see the economy expand and create more jobs. Some 13 million Indians become old enough each year to join the workforce.

Modi has been promoting India as the next manufacturing powerhouse. That's a title long held by China, which is now growing wealthier and pushing toward becoming a consumer economy.