I think you right about building a stronger football team takes time to build a strong football team effort and investment, pulse a good football background, which include infrastructure, coaching and support, can help nurture talented players and improve the sports over all standards. And aslo India football team face challenges in terms of ranking and development, which it making it looks harder for the young player's to see a future in football and in sports in total.
From what I can see, in India sports is not valued a lot. Youngsters are forced to spend 12-14 hours a day on studies, and sports is not regarded as a career option. Even in rare cases where it is regarded as a career option, that is applicable only for cricket and not for the other sports. You will find a lot of fans for various clubs such as Manchester United and Inter Milan in India. But that said, most of these fans will never play the sport themselves. And the absence of open space is also an issue in India.