Make In India via Switzerland?

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As we were sitting in a corner minding our own business this train whizzed past at break-neck speed. "Did you see that? Did you see that?" shouted our nosey reporter! Now what, we asked. "That train, it has a Make in India lion on it," she said. Can’t be, we said. This is Zurich. It is neither Davos nor Hannover where the lion was painted on trams as India’s new signature campaign. What is wrong with you we asked her? Off she went to the station master to ask when the next train would pass. In an hour, he said. So we waited with peeled eyes and breathless anticipation. An hour on the dot, another train shot past and she was right. The lion with the wheels behind it is a sponsored campaign of the Cantonal Bank of Zurich in Switzerland. Designed by Swiss designer Nadine Geissbülher, it was launched on July 4, 2013. Images of the campaign in Switzerland The Indian campaign was launched in September 2014 to profile India as a global manufacturing hub. The industrial wheel lion silhouette of campaign was designed by the Indian subsidiary of the American agency Weiden + Kennedy (W+K) which has Nike, Coke and Facebook among other companies as clients.Media reports say the company was paid Rs. 4, 32, 50,000 for the period ending March 31, 2015. Their first choice was an elephant and then a tiger which was apparently shot down as clichéd in addition to being symbols of Indian political parties. After an animated discussion we hear, the lion won as it also represented Emperor Ashok. We understand all that except that the Indian lion bears a striking resemblance to the one on the fast Swiss train. Of course, there is no evidence that there are lions in Switzerland. We report, you decide. And here’s a little detail - Zurich and cities and villages around it are the manufacturing hub of Switzerland.

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