The recent eruption of worker unrest across industrial clusters like Noida is less a law-and-order problem than a stress test of India’s economic model. What is now becoming clear is that this very foundation of abundant low-cost labour supply is beginning to crack ~ not because workers have suddenly become restive, but because the arithmetic of survival no longer adds up. At the heart of the issue lies a structural contradiction.

India aspires to position itself as a global manufacturing alternative to China, a goal actively promoted through initiatives like Make in India. Yet, unlike China’s earlier industrialisation phase, where rising productivity eventually translated into higher wages, India’s wage growth has remained stubbornly flat for a vast segment of its workforce. The result is a workforce that is fully employed but economically precarious. This contradiction is most visible in the vast ecosystem of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which employ the bulk of industrial labour.

These firms operate on wafer-thin margins, often tied into supply chains dominated by larger corporations that dictate pricing. In such a system, labour becomes the most adjustable variable. When input costs rise ~ whether due to global energy shocks or domestic inflation ~ the........

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