Ironic! `Make in India` logo made by a foreign firm?

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Believe it or not! The logo of the 'Make in India' campaign, the much-hyped initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was made by a foreign firm, reveals a Right to Information query.

The irony that it is, the Make in India campaign is a move to brand India as a manufacturing hub for which the Modi government has been inviting companies from across the globe to invest and set up their manufacturing centres in the country.

However, as per report in The Times of India, an RTI query by a Madhya Pradesh-based activist, Chandra Shekhar Gaur, revealed that the logo of the Make in India campaign was made by an Indian arm of a foreign company and not by an Indian company.

Replying to the RTI query, the Union commerce and industry ministry is reported to have replied, "No tenders were invited for designing Make In India logo. In 2014-15, tenders were invited by the ministry for appointing a creative agency. And on its basis, Weiden+Kennedy India Limited, was chosen. And it's this company which designed the logo for Make In India".

The ministry is also said to have informed that Weiden+Kennedy India Limited was hired for Rs 11 crore for advertising and promotion of Make In India campaign for 3 years.

Wieden+Kennedy is one of the largest independently owned advertising agencies in world headquartered at Portland, Oregon. It is best known for its work for Nike.