Factory in the UK.

 China's control over the supply of lithium is an opportunity for Offgrid Energy Labs whose "ZincGel platform is built on zinc-bromine chemistry, which the founders say offered the best balance of safety, longevity and commercial viability for stationery energy storage." "Today, its manufacturing facility is in the UK, while its technology - developed through years of R&D in India - is being stationed for applications ranging from AI data centers to renewable energy storage." ET. It is wonderful that the technology was invented in India but it is concerning that the company chose the UK for its manufacturing factory. One reason may be a lack of workers. "Every weekday morning at 6.30 am in India's factory clusters - Manesar, Noida, Dholera, Hosur and many more -" factory supervisors "reach out to the localmlabor contractors to round up as many workers as possible, depending on the day's shortage on the factory floor." "Gig jobs offer faster earnings, more autonomy and daily payouts, even when the overall cost to the company is lower." Factory wages, when factored for inflation, have not increased in a decade, wrote Megha Mandavia. In April, "factory workers (in Noida, UP) blocked roads, demanding higher wages and better working conditions." "They earn between Rs 10,000 and Rs 15,000 a month - wages that have remained largely unchanged for years." They had almost nothing left after paying for rent and food and were upset after Haryana increased wages by 35%. BBC. "They were paying me Rs 15,000 a month. I was working 12 hours, six days a week." "I can make that same money by making and selling clay diyas in my village," said 20-year-old Raj Prajapati. In 2024, Russia granted 72,000 work permits to skilled workers from India. Despite the war with Ukraine, workers are drawn by wages of up to $700 (Rs 63,000) per month to work in Russia, wrote Devina Sengupta. "Romania has expressed its readiness to create a pathway to employ 30,000 skilled Indian professionals every year." newsonair.gov.in. Romania has a population estimated at 19 million and a GDP of $950.384 billion. wikipedia. India's GDP at current prices is $4.15 trillion (4,150 billion), but GDP per capita is a paltry $2,810. IMF. India is the fastest growing economy in the world. The IMF's World Economic Outlook Update projects India to grow at 7% in this calendar year and at 6.4% in the next. newsonair.gov.in. But, "During the 1990s, every percentage point of GDP growth yielded roughly 0.41% growth in formal employment. By early 2026, that employment elasticity had plummeted to 0.01%. In plain terms: economic growth is no longer a labor sponge." "This is the '0.01 trap' - a state where the economy can double in size while people's well-being does not improve," wrote Ejaz Ghani. "According to the latest World Bank report, India's PCI (per capita income) of $2,760 places it at 139th out of 182 countries, and firmly within the 47 lower-middle-income countries (LMICs, PCI between $1,136 and $4,495)." Bangladesh is $2,840, Bhutan $4,310 and the Maldives $12,950. Sri Lanka recently moved to the upper-middle-income group ($4,496-$13,935) and the Maldives will soon move into the high-income club. India fell from the 'lowest thirties' to the 'lowest forties' during the previous 10 years of the Manmohan Singh government and is stuck at the 'lowest forties' after 12 years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, wrote Subhash Chandra Garg. And so, OffGrid Energy Labs invented its new battery technology in India but set up its factory in the UK. Why? In 2024, a social media platform LocalCircles reported that 66% of businesses resorted to paying bribes in the previous 12 months to get their work done. 54% were forced to pay bribes and 46% did so voluntarily. TOI. Maybe, that's why they left. Our youth lost.