Make in India: The Vision, New Processes, Sectors, Infrastructure and Mindset

The government launched "Make in India" initiative which aims at promoting India as an investment destination to establish India as a global hub for manufacturing, design and innovation. Under the initiative, the government intends to provide a robust infrastructure to business through development of various facilities and institutions.

Achievements of Make in India:

1. Simplification of existing rules through ease of doing business has cut down various license requirements and paper work formality, resulting in simplification of regulatory work.
2. India has attracted investment worth 18 billion us$ from companies viewing the country as a potential manufacturing hub.
3. Various tech giants like LH aviation and Hyundai heavy industries partnered with Indian partners to develop drones and naval ships in the country.
4. Contribution to economic growth in the country through increasing levels of GDP.

Shortfalls

Though the make in India is the flagship scheme of the government it has not delivered the desired results as in:

1. Unemployment situation in the country still remains the same.
2. Higher pricing of products along with more profits to MNC's for setting up plants in India.
3. Index of industrial production has been falling consistently over the months.
4. Domestic territory still remains untouched by areas of critical sector development such as no Indian firm is involved in Nuclear power projects and Aerospace development.

Way forward:

1. Team India comprising of center and the states should break the political barriers and support a program of uniform development throughout the country, policy of favoritism should be ruled out.
2. Focus should be on the development of sectors that are seen as drivers of growth in the economy and then pass on the dividends to other sectors.

India was ranked 132 in the Doing business report 2015 by World Bank and in 2017 it has been ranked 130 which shows an India's progress though it may be at a snail’s pace but it has caught the momentum necessary to further boost the Indian growth story.

Make in India was launched by the government to rekindle investment in the Indian manufacturing sector. Rating Agency Moody's have lauded the success of the initiative. Its major achievements are:

• Increased FDI inflows
• Projected India as an optimal investment destination - UNCTAD World Investment Report (WIR) 2015 ranked India as the third top prospective host economies for 2015-2017
• Infrastructure development - Development of Industrial Zone, Indsutrial Corridors
• Increased industrial production due to increased investment
• Acquisition of critical technologies especially in defense sector

Despite success, there have been some impediments to its true implementation:

• Investment in Manufacturing sector is still low
• Creation of jobs has been slow as most investment lies in services sector which require skilled professionals
• Regulatory and labor reforms are yet to take place which has constricted the space for investment
• Domestic potential in industrial technology sectors still not realized. e.g.- BrahMos, though labeled under Make in India, is mostly based on Russian technology.

Way forward

• Labor and regulatory reforms
• Incentivizing investments in currently ignored, but important sectors such as food processing, etc
• Encouraging states to develop their own polices for depicting their particular potential and attracting investment.
• Framing an robust IPR regime
• Focusing more on Transfer of technology rather than just fund transfer
• Initiating bilateral and multilateral agreements for long investment in infrastructure
• Integrating Make in India with Skill India, Startup India and other such initiatives to facilitate job creation

Many such measure can be taken to further improve the effectiveness of the Make in India campaign and spur India on a path of sustainable economic development

Make in India initiative launched by the center with pomp and show in the year 2014 is considered as one of its major path breaking reforms in the field of manufacturing and related sector in the country. The target was to revive country’s ailing manufacturing growth figures, develop domestic manufacturing units and finally creating a healthy image of being a competitive investment destination among the rest of the nations in the world.

The program has already reached its third year and the critics from the opposition and general public has started analyzing its effectiveness with that of the promised. Government has tried to catalyze by making many changes in the functioning and structure of these sectors; of them many are seeming to be fruitful like:

1. Financial sector reforms: GST bill has been passed and has been effective since 1st July 2017 which has reduced much of a concern among the international future investing firms and the existing ones. Changes done in the approval of FDI investments from FIPB towards automatic route in majority of the sectors like retail, pharm, insurance, aviation etc. leaving only a few strategic departments has created a positive scenario among international communities.
2. Technological sector reforms: The government has eased the norms for startup breaking the logjams in registration processes, relaxations in the local content outsourcing for the highly specialized firms like Apple etc.
3. Aviation sector de-regulations: FDI limits in the aviation sector have been increased which has helped in performance and profitability in our domestic airlines. Recent being the selling of stake in our dying state owned airline to international investor arena.

In spite of the above actions by the ministries of the government which also includes numerous state visits by our own prime minister, the growth as seen in in manufacturing has been lethargic. There has been many reasons to the support of criticism of which are:

1. Deceleration in world growth: The economy of the major developed economies like USA, Japan, Russia and China has been experiencing low inflation and GDP growth due to which investors have been reluctant to spend rather extravagantly.
2. Wait and watch policies of nations: Major economies like USA has imbibed policies of import restrictions and stricter VISA reforms and IPR policies in order to develop its ailing domestic sectors to help create local employment.
3. Policy actions opposite to Make in India reforms: There have been various actions of the government which inculcates hindrance in the thoughts of Make in India reforms. E.g., major procurements in the defense sector from USA and France, Nuclear agreements for development of reactors with Russia and USA etc. Such actions have lessened the opportunities in growth of indigenous firms.
4. Political instability and state factors: Apart from delaying of reforms in the parliament, there has been a growth in communal tensions in the regions and boundary disputes along our borders. These factors create a negative sentiment among the potential investor nations and their respective governments.

The government in order to stand by its initial proclaims has to make changes in the basic structure of its reform initiatives like:

1. Collaborations among domestic venture firms and experienced investing MNC’s in order to reap both the benefits of employment generation and technology sharing.
2. Effective placement and implementation of the taxation and investor reforms like GST, Real estate amendments, Banking regulation reforms, etc.
3. Developments in domestic arbitration laws and faster resolution mechanisms can help in settlement of disputes and hence retaining country’s image as an investment destination