Since years policy-makers have been debating how to give an impetus to manufacturing in India and make India a Global Manufacturing Hub. But it is Narendra Modi, who within a matter of months, launched the ‘Make in India’ campaign to facilitate investment, foster innovation, enhance skill development, protect intellectual property & build best in class manufacturing infrastructure.
The “Make in India” initiative is based on four pillars, which have been identified to give boost to entrepreneurship in India, not only in manufacturing but also other sectors.
New Processes: ‘Make in India’ recognizes ‘ease of doing business’ as the single most important factor to promote entrepreneurship. A number of initiatives have already been undertaken to ease business environment. The aim is to de-license and de-regulate the industry during the entire life cycle of a business.
New Infrastructure: Availability of modern and facilitating infrastructure is a very important requirement for the growth of industry. Government intends to develop industrial corridors and smart cities to provide infrastructure based on state-of-the-art technology with modern high-speed communication and integrated logistic arrangements. Existing infrastructure to be strengthened through upgradation of infrastructure in industrial clusters. Innovation and research activities are supported through fast paced registration system and accordingly infrastructure of Intellectual Property Rights registration set-up has been upgraded. The requirement of skills for industry are to be identified and accordingly development of workforce to be taken up.
New Sectors: ‘Make in India’ has identified 25 sectors in manufacturing, infrastructure and service activities and detailed information is being shared through interactive web-portal and professionally developed brochures. FDI has been opened up in Defence Production, Construction and Railway infrastructure in a big way.
New Mindset: Industry is accustomed to see Government as a regulator. ‘Make in India’ intends to change this by bringing a paradigm shift in how Government interacts with industry. The Government will partner industry in economic development of the country. The approach will be that of a facilitator and not regulator.
The Make in India program has been built on layers of collaborative effort. There has been from Union Ministers, Secretaries to the Government of India, state governments, industry leaders, and various knowledge partners. A National Workshop on sector specific industries in December 2014 brought Secretaries to the Government of India and industry leaders together to debate and formulate an action plan for the next three years, aimed at raising the contribution of the manufacturing sector to 25% of the GDP in the coming years.
These exercises resulted in a road map for the single largest manufacturing initiative undertaken by a nation in recent history. They also demonstrated the transformational power of public-private partnership, and have become a hallmark of the Make in India program. This collaborative model has also been successfully extended to include India’s global partners, as evidenced by the recent in-depth interactions between India and the United States of America.
In a short space of time, the obsolete and obstructive frameworks of the past have been dismantled and replaced with a transparent and user-friendly system that is helping drive investment, foster innovation, develop skills, protect IP and build best-in-class manufacturing infrastructure. The most striking indicator of progress is the unprecedented opening up of key sectors – including Railways, Defence, Insurance and Medical Devices – to dramatically higher levels of Foreign Direct Investment.
An array of measures focused on the ease of doing business in India have also been launched under the Make India program. Brand new, IT-driven application and tracking processes are replacing files and red tape. A number of new initiatives have been launched in order to streamline and rationalise licensing rules at the state government level, aligning them with global best practices.
From amendments in Labour law to online filing of returns & from rationalization of the regulatory environment to increasing the validity of industrial licenses, a lot of changes have been ushered in to make ‘Make in India’ a reality.
Today, India’s credibility is stronger than ever. There is visible momentum, energy and optimism. Make in India is opening investment doors. Multiple enterprises are adopting its mantra. The world’s largest democracy is well on its way to becoming the world’s most powerful economy.
