The Make in India programme was launched in 2014-15 to encourage national and multinational companies in the country. This programme facilitates investors who want to invest and develop products made in India. 

The main aim of this campaign is to make India a global-level manufacturing powerhouse, which would solve numerous issues and assist the growth of the Indian economy. Its objectives are as stated:

  1. Increment in the growth of the manufacturing sector by 12-14% each year.
  2. Generate 100 million new jobs in the manufacturing sector in the country by 2022. 
  3. A contribution of 25%  from the manufacturing sector to the GDP by the end of 2022.

The Make in India initiative was launched after successful deals were made between foreign investors and India’s top industrialists, including Azim Premji (chairman of Wipro) and Mukesh Ambani (chairman of Reliance Industries). Moreover, several legal amendments were introduced to ease and enhance business processes and enhance foreign direct investment (FDI). 

Advantages and improvements in the Indian economy 

After its launch, Make in India has impacted the growth of the country’s manufacturing sector, environment and economy in several ways, positively as well as negatively. Some of the significant achievements and positive impacts made by Make in India are as follows:

  1. It has enormously impacted the FDI of India. The collective FDI between 2014 and 2017 accounted for 33% of the cumulative FDI after 2000. In 2015-16, the country recorded its highest FDI, crossing $50bn, and further in 2016-17, setting a new record of $60bn. The cumulative FDI inflow from April 2000 to March 2018 is $546bn. This has led India to maintain its reputation as the world’s most attractive destination for greenfield investment.
  1. The increased confidence for business persons in industrial corridors in India led to the improvement of India’s position in worldwide banks’ ease of doing business rankings from a global average ranking of 142 in 2014 to 100 in 2017. 
  2. A total of 21 new nodal cities and five industrial corridors are under development to enhance industrial growth and indigenous manufacturing.
  1. A holistic national Intellectual property rights (IPR) policy was introduced in May 2016. Under this policy, 45,449 patents and 15,600 copyrights were registered, from which 9,850 patents and 3,540 copyrights were granted. 
  1. The growth rate of manufacturing sectors increased to 6.9% per year between 2014-15 and 2019-20. Additionally, the share of manufacturing in the economy decreased from 16.3% in 2014-15 to 14.3% in 2020-2021. 
  1. Equity markets have been rising at a steady pace in recent years. Nifty has gained 25.2% and Sensex has gained 31.3%. FIIs (foreign institutional investors) invested around Rs.1.1 lakh crore in the equity market between 2014-15 and 2020-21. Indian households have also increasingly invested in equities and debentures, which rose from approximately Rs. 39 crores to Rs. 92 crores in 2015-16.
  1. The IT sector has witnessed the highest growth after the launch of Make in India. This sector employs around 1,50,000 workers in the social, analytics and cloud market (SMAC) and has recorded 13.5% growth in 2015. 
  1. In the automobile industry, after the launch of Make in India, the indigenous manufacturing and production of vehicles (two-wheelers) has significantly increased from 8.5 million units to 15.9 million units a year. 

Conclusion

Make in India is a progressive project. It has the potential to create sustainable growth in India’s economy. Although it excludes the development of the agricultural sector, the programme promotes and provides a vast amount of opportunities in the manufacturing sector as well as indigenous manufacturing. 

Start-ups in the manufacturing, financial technology, telecoms, automobile, Internet of things, and mobile industries can benefit from this initiative. The government is considering several measures to improve the Make in India programme, and it is increasingly possible to transform India into a manufacturing hub through this programme.