Make in India

The Make in India logo

Make in India is an initiative of the Government of India, to encourage companies to manufacture their products in India. It was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 25 September 2014. Make in India initiative has been on main agenda in various foreign visits of Narendra Modi.

History

Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the launch of Make in India

Modi and Cabinet ministers at the concluding session of the national workshop on Make in India in New Delhi, 29 December 2014.

Modi had hinted towards the initiative in his Independence Day speech of 15 August 2014. It was launched on 25 September 2014 in a function at the Vigyan Bhawan. On 29 December 2014, a workshop was organised by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion which was attended by Modi, his Cabinet ministers, chief secretaries of states and various industry leaders.

Overview

The major objective behind the initiative is to focus on 25 sectors of the economy for job creation and skill enhancement. Some of these sectors are: automobiles, chemicals, IT, pharmaceuticals, textiles, ports, aviation, leather, tourism and hospitality, wellness, railways, auto components, design manufacturing, renewable energy, mining, bio-technology, and electronics. The initiative hopes to increase GDP growth and tax revenue. The initiative also aims at high quality standards and minimising the impact on the environment. The initiative hopes to attract capital and technological investment in India.
The campaign was designed by the Wieden+Kennedy (W+K) group which had previously worked on the Incredible India campaign and a campaign for the Indian Air Force.

Incentives

Under the initiative, brochures on the 25 sectors and a web portal were released. Before the initiative was launched, foreign equity caps in various sectors had been relaxed or . The application for licences was made available online. The validity of licenses was increased to 3 years. Various other norms and procedures were also relaxed.
In August 2014, the Cabinet of India allowed 49% foreign direct investment (FDI) in the defence sector and 100% in railways infrastructure. The defence sector previously allowed 26% FDI and FDI was not allowed in railways. This was in hope of bringing down the military imports of India. Earlier, one Indian company would have held the 51% stake, this was changed so that multiple companies could hold the 51%.
Out of 25 sectors, except Space(74%), Defence(49%) and News Media(26%), 100% FDI is allowed in rest of sectors.

Responses

In January 2015, the Spice Group said it would start a mobile phone manufacturing unit in Uttar Pradesh with an investment of ₹500 crore. A memorandum of understanding was signed between the Spice Group and the Government of Uttar Pradesh.
In January 2015, HyunChil Hong, the President & CEO of Samsung South West Asia, met with Kalraj Mishra, Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), to discuss a joint initiative under which 10 "MSME-Samsung Technical Schools" will established in India. In February, Samsung said that will manufacture the Samsung Z1 in its plant in Noida.
In February 2015, Hitachi said it was committed to the initiative. It said that it would increase its employees in India from 10,000 to 13,000 and it would try to increase its revenues from India from ¥100 billion in 2013 to ¥210 billion. It said that an auto-component plant will be set up in Chennai in 2016.
In February 2015, Huawei opened a new research and development (R&D) campus in Bengaluru. It had invested US$170 million to establish the research and development center.
In April 2015, Airbus said that it will manufacture its products in India and invest $ 2 Billion US dollars.
Also in February, Marine Products Export Development Authority said that it was interested in supplying shrimp eggs to shrimp farmers in India under the initiative.
In May, 2015 Tata JLR (Jaguar Land-Rover) announced that it will move its production of the Land Rover Defender to it's Pune facility in India in 2016.
Shiv Kumar Rungta, president, FTAPCCI, stressed on key sectors like services (mainly in IT), mechanization of Agriculture sector for achieving increased productivity, among others, for the success of ‘Make in India’.