Make in India is an ambitious national programme launched by the Government of India on 25 September 2014. Its headline objective is to turn India into a global manufacturing powerhouse and simultaneously generate large-scale employment. Below is a concise but comprehensive briefing on what the initiative is, how far it has come, what it still wants to achieve, what is slowing it down, and the evolving strategies being used to keep momentum alive.
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What “Make in India” Actually Is
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• Vision: Raise the share of manufacturing in GDP from ~16 % (FY14) to 25 % by 2025 and create ~100 million additional jobs.
• Scope: Originally covered 25 “focus” sectors—from automobiles, defence and electronics to textiles, pharma and food processing.
• Governance: A dedicated Make in India cell within DPIIT (Department for Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade) acts as the single-window for investor hand-holding and problem resolution.
• Policy bundle: It is not one law but a brand-name umbrella that packages liberalised FDI rules, faster approvals, targeted PLI schemes, state-level outreach, and an aggressive image-building campaign.
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2. Progress Snapshot (2014 → 2024)
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Macro outcome
• FDI inflow: Cumulative US$596 bn received since 2014 (vs US$203 bn in the preceding decade).
• Manufacturing share in GDP: Stagnant at 14-17 % because overall GDP grew even faster; however, gross value-added in manufacturing has doubled in nominal terms.
• Employment: PLFS shows ~6 million additional manufacturing jobs; however, NSS and CMIE data differ widely, so 100 million target remains distant.
Sectoral wins
• Mobile phones: Domestic production value jumped from US$3 bn (FY14) to US$49 bn (FY23); India is now the world’s 2nd largest handset maker and exporter.
• Automobiles: India overtook Japan to become 3rd largest light-vehicle manufacturer (2022).
• Defence: Negative import list (now 310 items) and 74 % FDI under automatic route pushed defence FDI from US$0.3 m (FY14) to US$0.7 bn (FY23); 75 % of the capital procurement budget reserved for domestic industry.
• Electronics: US$10 bn+ PLI incentives led Apple, Samsung, TDK, Foxconn, Pegatron to set up large-scale units; FY24 electronics exports crossed US$25 bn.
• Textiles & garments: Production-linked incentive and RoDTEP refunds helped India gain market share from China in the US/EU post-Covid.
Ease-of-doing-business reforms
• Single-window portal for 14 central licences and 200+ state-level approvals.
• Shram Suvidha and e-Biz cut company incorporation time to <1 day.
• 372 archaic compliances scrapped; 1 536 union-level processes simplified.
• GST roll-out (2017) reduced border wait-times for trucks by ~30 %.
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3. Explicit Goals (2025–30 Horizon)
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• Raise manufacturing’s share of GDP to 25 % by 2025 (now reset to 2030).
• Create 100 million incremental jobs; achieve net-zero emissions by 2070 while expanding manufacturing.
• Integrate India into global value chains (GVCs) and reduce import dependence on China for electronics, pharmaceuticals, solar modules.
• Position India among the top-5 global producers in at least 12 high-value sectors.
• Become a US$1 trillion digital economy with substantial hardware manufacturing within India.
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4. Persistent Obstacles
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- Land acquisition: Projects still lose 12–24 months to litigation; average land cost is 2–4× that of Vietnam/Indonesia.
- Labour productivity: India’s manufacturing value-added per worker is ~US$7 000 vs China’s US$28 000.
- Logistics: Logistics cost is 13–14 % of GDP (global benchmark ~8 %).
- Power tariffs: Industrial power tariff in India is US¢11–13/kWh vs Vietnam US¢7–8.
- MSME credit gap: ~US$240 bn unmet demand for working-capital/capex credit.
- Regulatory cholesterol: 44 000+ compliances at state level even after reform.
- Global headwinds: US-China tensions create opportunity but also semiconductor shortages, high freight rates, and carbon-border-adjustment threats.
- Skill mismatch: Only 4.7 % of India’s labour force has formal vocational training vs 60–80 % in developed East Asia.
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5. Current & Emerging Strategies
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A. Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) 2.0
– Expand from 14 to 25 sectors; shift from input-based to output-based criteria; introduce graduated claw-back clauses for under-performance.
– Add an “advanced chemistry cell” battery PLI to capture EV supply chains.
B. National Logistics Policy & Gati Shakti
– Unified logistics interface platform (ULIP) for real-time cargo tracking; target 10 % reduction in logistics cost by 2027.
– 35 multi-modal logistics parks (MMLPs) and 400+ new cargo terminals under Gati Shakti master-plan.
C. China+1 + Friend-shoring
– Bilateral agreements with US, EU, South Korea, Japan for trusted supply chains.
– 100 % FDI via automatic route in telecom, insurance, defence, single-brand retail to deepen global partnerships.
D. Semiconductor & Display Fab Ecosystem
– US$10 bn incentive package; Micron’s US$2.75 bn ATMP plant (Sanand), Tata-Powerchip’s US$11 bn fab (Assam), Vedanta-Foxconn (Dholera) revived with new partners.
– Target: 10 % of global semiconductor packaging and 20 % of global outsourced assembly and test (OSAT) by 2030.
E. State Champions & Competitiveness Rankings
– DPIIT’s annual “State Business Reform Action Plan” ranks 36 states/UTs on 180 parameters; results linked to extra borrowing limits from Finance Commission.
– Industrial Township Scheme: Convert 14 existing greenfield/ brownfield nodes into plug-and-play estates with common effluent treatment, worker hostels, and 24×7 power.
F. Skill & Labour Reforms
– PM Vishwakarma Yojana (2023) for artisans; stipend-linked skilling for 3 million workers.
– Labour codes (Wage, Industrial Relations, Social Security, Occupational Safety) notified; implementation rules being finalised by states to give flexibility in hiring-firing.
G. Green Manufacturing & Circular Economy
– Green hydrogen mission with US$2.4 bn outlay to decarbonise steel, fertiliser, refining.
– Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) credits for electronics, battery recycling units.
– Draft carbon-credit trading scheme to help exporters meet EU CBAM.
H. Digital Public Infrastructure for Industry
– Open credit enablement network (OCEN) for MSME collateral-free loans; account-aggregator framework to cut loan-approval time to <15 minutes.
– BIS-CARE app for self-certification of quality standards.
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6. Bottom-line Assessment
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Make in India has moved the needle from “intent” to “initial outcomes” in select sectors (mobiles, autos, defence), but the broader transformation—25 % GDP share, 100 million jobs—remains work-in-progress. The government has pivoted from pure marketing to a more surgical approach: PLI money, logistics war-room, friend-shoring diplomacy, and state-level competition. Whether India becomes the next global manufacturing hub will depend on execution speed on land, labour, power, and logistics—areas where the next 18–24 months are critical.
