India has the unique distinction of possessing 3 D’s i.e. Dynamic democracy, Demographic dividend and Demand of marketable products from more than 1.21 billion Indian population. To capitalise over the ‘demographic dividend’ and to become a self reliant economy, the incumbent NDA Government had taken the decision in September 2014 to launch ‘Make in India’ initiative. In order to emerge as a global manufacturing hub and become self- reliant in manufacturing sector, the vision of ‘Make in India’ would prove a milestone in the upcoming years of growth of Indian economy.

‘Make in India’ is not merely an inspiring slogan but it represents a complete change of  Government’s mindset i.e. a shift from the role of Government as an issuing authority to a business partner, in keeping with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tenet of ‘Minimum Government, Maximum Governance’. As a passenger in the journey of emerging Indian economy to become a superpower, everybody of us should be aware about the vision of ‘Make in India’ and its nuances. This article tries to decode the various aspects of ‘Make in India’ programme for the competitive examination aspirants and the corporate executives.

In year 2013, the economic conditions were not favourable for Indian economy. The issues of global recession and domestic ‘policy paralysis’ problem were obstructing the growth trajectory of Indian economy. Indian economy was considered as the part of ‘fragile fives’ group of economies rather than the tag of ‘emerging economy’ in the global scenario. Global investors started debating whether the world’s largest democracy was a great risk for investment or an opportunity. India’s 1.21 billion citizens raised doubts whether India was too big to succeed or too big to fail. India was on the brink of severe economic failure. With this background of Indian economy in last few years, the ‘Make in India’ initiative was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September 2014 as a part of a wider set of nation-building initiatives. Devised to transform India into a global design and manufacturing hub, ‘Make in India’ was a timely response to a critical situation in year 2013. This flagship programme ‘Make In India’ was aimed at not only attracting overseas companies to set up their businesses in India but also to support and encourage domestic companies to increase production in our country. It adopted ‘Zero Defect, Zero Effect’ policy of manufacturing products that meet high quality global standards and at the same time causes minimal environmental damage.

The programme put thrust on four key areas – improving the ease of doing business through speed and transparency; relaxing rules relating for attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI); protecting intellectual property rights of innovators or manufacturers and promoting domestic manufacturing. The focus of ‘Make In India’ programme is on creating jobs and skill enhancement in 25 sectors including automobiles, aviation, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, construction, defence manufacturing, electrical machinery, food processing, textiles and garments, ports, leather, media and entertainment, tourism and hospitality, railways, renewable energy, mining, bio-technology, space, thermal power, roads and highways and electronics systems.

For the promotion of domestic manufacturing, the ‘Make in India’ initiative has set a few targets which include increasing manufacturing sector growth to 12-14 per cent per annum over the medium term and increasing the share of manufacturing in the country’s Gross Domestic Product from 16 per cent to 25 per cent by 2022 as well as creation of 100 million additional jobs by 2022 in manufacturing sector. Besides the above, the other targets are creating appropriate skill sets among rural migrants and the urban poor for inclusive growth, increasing the domestic value addition and technological depth in manufacturing, enhancing the global competitiveness of the Indian manufacturing sector and ensuring environmentally sustainable economic growth.

The success of ‘Make in India’ is dependent on policies of Government of India promoting ‘Ease of doing business’ for the foreign entities as well as domestic companies in India. The various policy reforms in terms of- FDI sector reforms leading to opening up of various sectors of economy for the foreign private players; abolishing FIPB (Foreign Investment Promotion Board); establishment of Investor facilitation cell dedicated for ‘Make in India’ programme; single window clearance system for various sanctions related to projects, reforms in bankruptcy laws, etc.- aid towards the success of ‘Make in India’ programme. In a short span of time after the launch of ‘Make in India’ programme, the obsolete and obstructive frameworks of the past have been dismantled and are being replaced with a transparent and user-friendly system that is helping drive investment, foster innovation, develop skills, protect Intellectual Property (IP) and build best-in-class manufacturing infrastructure.

The most striking indicator of progress on this front is the unprecedented opening up of key sectors – including Railways, Defence, Insurance and Medical Devices – to dramatically higher levels of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). ‘Make in India’ is a praiseworthy example of ‘cooperative federalism’ where the Central Government and various state Governments are working in tandem for promoting India as a global manufacturing hub. The Department of Industrial Promotion and Policy (DIPP) is successfully spearheading the ‘Make in India’ programme in coordination with various state Governments as well as in collaboration with various other nations. The DIPP is also working towards improvement and protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) of innovators and creators by upgrading infrastructure and by using the state-of-the-art technology.

As per ‘Doing Business Report 2016’ published by World Bank, India now ranks 130 out of 189 countries in the ease of doing business, moving up four places from last year’s adjusted ranking of 134. The rankings for both the years are part of a revised methodology adopted by the World Bank. India has improved its position in year 2016 on three counts—starting a business, getting construction permits and accessing electricity—in  the Ease of Doing Business Index, but saw its performance worsen with regard to two parameters—accessing credit and paying taxes. According to an output-outcome framework document prepared by the government, India wants to reach the 90th rank in 2017-18 and 30th by year 2020.

The logo of ‘Make in India’ initiative is a moving lion. The roaring of this moving lion depicting the march of ‘Make in India’ programme and in turn the forward marching of Indian economy is a true reflection of its progress and unleashing of further potential of Indian economy. The reforms procedure is a process and need the proper direction and political will power. The incumbent NDA Government through effective implementation of ‘Make in India’ programme and continuing with its reforms process would certainly keep the Indian economy on right path.

(The author of this article ,Lt Col (Dr) Satish Dhage, is an ex Army officer and has been qualified for IPS (Indian Police Services) through IPS LCE 2012. Presently, he is Director, MGM Institute of Competitive Exams Aurangabad. For any queries or feedback, he can be contacted on email id : drsatishdhage@gmail.com)