Make in India: Transforming the Nation Through Manufacturing

While 2014 did more than coin a dynamic catchphrase with “Make in India,” it was a powerful call of action targeted at the manufacturing sector in that country. Dramatically to turn India from an economy dependent on service industries into a global powerhouse on manufacturing, the initiative would achieve this. How far has it succeeded? Let’s delve deeper.

What is Make in India?

Make in India is a scheme by the government of India, launched in 2014, looking at increasing domestic manufacturing and augmenting foreign investment. Some of its objectives are as follows:

• Improving Manufacturing Growth: It aims to considerably increase the manufacturing sector’s growth rate in India.

• Increasing jobs: It aims to generate a substantial number of new jobs in the manufacturing industry.

• Improving India’s GDP: It aims at increasing the contribution or share of the manufacturing sector in India’s GDP.

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The Motive behind the Make in India initiative

The motive is to make India a global hub in respect of the design and manufacturing of produced goods for export. Now, here there are basically twenty-five identified sectors that have been focused on. It ranges from automobiles, pharmaceuticals and textiles. This is achieved through:

• Easy doing business: Ease and hassle-free start-up and operation of businesses.
• Creation of infrastructure: State-of-the-art infrastructure to be developed for the propagation of manufacturing activities.
• Opening new sectors: Increasing the potentials of foreign investment in other areas of the Indian economy.
• Developing relevant workforce skills: Developing a skillful workforce in all areas of the manufacturing industry.

Make in India has managed to attract investments and boost some of the manufacturing industries, but the challenges in the form of complicated regulations and underdeveloped infrastructure are yet to be sorted.

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The Vision: A Self-Reliant India

The rich manufacturing heritage of India is ages-old. However, the 21st century wanted a refocused attention to this sector as the driving force for economic growth with job creation. Therefore, Make in India was an important strategic response to achieve this with a view to:

• Increase the share of manufacturing in GDP: from then current 16%, the initiative targeted an ambitious jump to 25% by 2022, later revised to 2025.
• Boost Job Creation: Generating 100 million new manufacturing jobs by 2022 is one of the core program goals.
• Foster innovation and competitiveness: Make in India seeks to create an ecosystem that attracts not just production, but also state-of-the-art design and research and development.

The Four Pillars of Make in India

• Easy Business: One has to rationalize regulations, simplify procedures, and make investors feel more invincible about domestic companies while giving them a red carpet welcome for foreign companies.

• Infrastructural Development: Creation of world-class physical infrastructure vis-à-vis power grids, transport networks, and industrial corridors so that a vibrant manufacturing sector can be supported.

• Skill Development: Of course, a healthy workforce shall be endowed with the appropriate technical know-how for any company to grow.

• Investment Promotion: Promoting India with focused campaigns as an ideal destination for manufacturing-based investments, together with facilitation of investment.

Make In India Focused on 25 Sectors

The website of Make in India has also mentioned the 25 focus sectors and has also provided all the relevant details about these sectors, and the linked Government schemes, including the FDI policies, IPR, etc. The principal sectors [27 sectors] covered under this campaign are given below:

Manufacturing Sectors:

• Aerospace and Defence
• Automotive and Auto Components
• Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices
• Bio-Technology
• Capital Goods
• Textile and Apparels
• Chemicals and Petrochemicals
• ESDM
• Leather & Footwear
• Food Processing
• Gems and Jewellery
• Shipping
• Railways
• Construction
• New and Renewable Energy

Services Sectors:

• Information Technology & Information Technology enabled Services, IT & ITeS
• Tourism and Hospitality Services
• Medical Value Travel
• Transport and Logistics Services
• Accounting and Finance Services
• Audio Visual Services
• Legal Services
• Communication Services
• Construction and Related Engineering Services
• Environmental Services
• Financial Services
• Education Services

Schemes under Make in India

Success for the Make in India program is pegged to an all-rounded strategy. Here are such initiatives furthering the vision:

• Skill India: This mission envisions training 10 million Indians per annum across sectors—attentive to how a skilled workforce is necessary. With barely 2% of its population formally skilled, upskilling holds the key to realizing Make in India.

• Startup India: This program shall be central to the making of a startup ecosystem. Startups bring along with them innovation, generate employment, and offer sustainable economic growth.

• Digital India: It is an initiative which aims to transform India into a digitally empowered society. The world today cannot think about manufacturing or communicating through effective means without a strong digital infrastructure.

Laying Foundations:

Besides these central programmes, several other initiatives reinforce Make in India:

• Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana: PMJDY ensures financial inclusion, thereby making people empowered to a very great extent, with the probable funding of entrepreneurial ventures.

• Smart Cities: Next-generation cities with efficient infrastructure will provide for a business-friendly environment and act as a catalyst for manufacturing.

Enhancing Liveability and Sustainability:

There are a number of initiatives in the area of liveability and sustainability:

• AMRUT: This scheme aimed at providing basic amenities in making 500 cities more liveable and inclusive.

• Swachh Bharat Abhiyan: The national mission on sanitation and health hygiene sets the background for a cleaner and healthier environment for workers and is possibly more attractive to investment.

Infrastructure and Innovation:

• Sagarmala: A comprehensive development program of India’s ports to promote port-led direct development, thereby making trade and logistics more efficient.

• International Solar Alliance: This is an Indian initiative (ISA) that provides scope for research and development processes in solar energy, so as to ensure sustainability in its manufacturing ecosystem.

• AGNII: The program makes it possible for innovation to be achieved by linking people together, while also supporting the commercialization process for new ideas that lamppost technological change for the benefit of manufacturing.

These initiatives are like a framework working together to make the Make in India dream a reality and giving impetus to the journey on which India is walking towards becoming a global manufacturing hub.

Challenges Faced by Make in India Initiative

Although many of the initiatives under this ‘Make in India’ manufacturing push by India have been quite promising, a few critics point to the fact that any such ambitious goals set by the government are quite difficult to achieve. The challenges India faces are as follows:

• Land Use: The fact that as massive as 60% of the land is cultivable for agriculture in India raises concerns about permanent disruption of farmland with manufacturing.
• Environmental Effects: Fast-paced industrial development could be too heavy on the exploitation of natural resources or increasing pollution, even by eco-friendly techniques.
• Foreign Competition: Large FDI could lead to a loss of competitiveness amongst local farmers and small businesses due to the presence of these firms.
• Infrastructure Deficits: The weak infrastructure—roads, power, transportation—in India needs tremendous improvement for large-scale manufacturing. Corruption comes in the way too.
• Lessons from China: The evidence from the case of China itself in increasing the share of its manufacturing from 2.6% in the 1990s to 24.9% in 2013, from the stresses it laid on robust infrastructure development.

Conclusion

“Make in India” is a long-term vision; its success lies within the canvas of continuous improvement. If the challenges are attended to and opportunities seized, then India itself will actually be transformed into a self-reliant manufacturing powerhouse. The journey has begun, and with focused efforts, “Make in India” can indeed be the engine that propels the nation toward a prosperous future.

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