MAKE IN INDIA: FROM MY PERSPECTIVE

MAKE IN INDIA: AN UNLEASHED POTENTIAL

The rapid expansion of manufacturing sector has been a major objective of economic policy in India. Starting with the second five-year plan in 1956 and culminated by the recent launching of 'Make in India' campaign, policy makers always stressed the need to expand India's manufacturing sector. A natural question is: why manufacturing? Historical evidence from different parts of the world demonstrates the indispensable role that industrialization plays in the economic development process of countries. In India, expansion of labour- intensive manufacturing offers a huge potential for generating low-skilled employment.

               The major objective of 'Make in India' the initiative is to re-invigorate Indian economy by making India a "manufacturing hub" and to create more output and ample opportunities for employment. Under the 'Make in India' policy, the government aims to raise the share of manufacturing in GDP to 25 per cent till 2025 which has been stagnant at 15-16 percent during the last two decades. In order to attract investments and promote manufacturing, this programme addresses the problem areas in the manufacturing sector through different channels of interventions. Some of the major interventions include the E-Biz portal enabling 24*7 applications of industrial license making the process seamless. The process of getting environment clearance has been made online. Twenty-five sectors including textiles, automobiles, chemicals, information technology and pharmaceuticals have been identified as focus segments.

                The concept of "global production network"(GPN) has been developed as a way to analyze the complex link between a lead or a key firm and its suppliers in different countries. Growth of global production networks implies that trade involves not only the exchange of end products but, increasingly, of Trade in parts and components (P&C) that go into making them. Foreign investment

policy on efficient and competitive domestic manufacturing will serve multiple objectives. First and foremost, it will enhance job opportunities within the country; second, it will minimize the imports of such products into the country, thereby mitigating the pressure on our trade deficit; third, in the long run, it will help augment and diversify our exports from the manufacturing sector; fourth, it will help in bringing latest technologies into the country and lastly, such domestic manufacturing will help minimize some of the trade frictions we have with other countries.What is important is the creation of an environment that allows entrepreneurs to freely search and identify opportunities in the vertically integrated global supply chains of various industries. A level playing field should be created for different types of business entities-domestic, foreign and joint ventures.

To conclude this essay in a lighter vein, in one of the famous cartoons of Dennis the Menace, the irrepressible boy tells his father with a logic beyond his years: “Dad, if everything is made in China, then God must be living in China”. When the vision of “Make in India” is realized, and India becomes an enviable manufacturing hub of The world, Dennis may perhaps find God shifting his residence to India.