How To Sustain The 'Make In India' Initiative

Manufacturing has the potential to provide large-scale employment to the young indian population and thereby enable a significant section of the population to move out of poverty.

- Prasanth Sakhamuri

THE MAKE IN INDIA INITIATIVE IS THE START OF a whole program to develop significant manufacturing capability within the country. The aim is to increase the contribution of the manufacturing sector to GDP to at least 30 to 35% from its existing level of 16 to 17%. With its substantial population, India will be a major consumer and will always be a market for many FMCG, automotive, consumer and industrial organisations.

After being announced in October 2020, the Make in India program has started to see immediate success in the electronics, defence subassemblies and manufacturing of intermediaries for pharmaceuticals verticals. In addition, the solar cell and module business is also seeing success as the tariff imposed on imports drives the local industry's production and competitiveness.

To sustain this initial success and continue with these sectors' growth, the government's support with the appropriate policy and infrastructure is required in a large amount. Indian manufacturing competitiveness will improve with a trained workforce and robust policies that will enhance the productivity of the existing workforce. The policy should be able to enhance gender diversity on the workforce front and ensure backward integration as we lack total capability in core raw material manufacturing on the technology front.