What are the objectives of Make in India campaign? Examine how the initiative has fared in attaining these objectives.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the Make in India campaign on September 25, 2014, to attract foreign investment in a bid to industrialise India. The foreign investors were invited to make in India, not necessarily for India.

The objectives of the programme included:

• To increase the manufacturing sector’s growth rate to 12-14 per cent per annum.
• To increase the manufacturing sector’s share in the economy from 16 to 25 per cent of the GDP by 2022 — and
• To create 100 million additional jobs by 2022.

Make in India: An Analysis

The Foreign direct investment (FDI) was increased from $16 billion in 2013-14 to $36 billion in 2015-16. This remarkable achievement must be viewed from the following standpoints.

• The FDIs have plateaued since 2016 and FDIs were not contributing to India’s industrialisation.
• On the contrary, FDIs in the manufacturing sector was on the wane.
• The FDI in the manufacturing sector was just above $7 Billion In 2017-18, as against $9.6 billion in 2014-15.
• The services sector has cornered most of the FDIs .i.e $23.5 billion which was more than three times that of the manufacturing sector.
• Very few investors were attracted by the prospect of Campaign, and India’s share in the global exports of manufactured products remains around 2 per cent.

These trends in the FDI were a clear reflection of the traditional strong points of Indian economy wherein computer services are remarkably developed. But any country cannot rely on services without developing an industrial base. The government had developed Make in India initiative to arrest this trend.

Topics: GS-III: Indian Economy Issues Relating to Planning