Ideally, all researchers would upload their works to an open access repository. If that were already happening, there would be no need for a country-specific arxiv. An Indian arxiv may motivate people in the Indian research ecosystem to upload their works as a matter of national pride. I may not sympathize with the motivation, but as long as the papers are freely accessible, I have no reason to complain.

Language is one of the biggest reasons. India, Indonesia and Africa are all countries with scores of different languages. Some of these are often languages in which research is conducted and communicated. Having a region specific preprint server allows people to communicate research in their own language. Then of course there are region specific research topics that the global scientific community might not care about.

Yup it makes as much sense as an Indian HN.

to promote competition.