Make in India

Make in India is a Government of India programme to turn India into a global hub for making things: cars, phones, medicines, steel, machines and more. It was launched on 25 September 2014. It tries to attract Indian and foreign companies to set up factories in India, so that the country produces more, exports more and creates more jobs. It is led by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Why does India need it?

In most rich countries and in East Asia, millions of poor farm workers moved into factories. Factory work paid more than farm work, so incomes rose fast. India took a different path. Its growth came mainly from services such as IT, banking and trade. These services mostly need educated, skilled workers. But a very large part of India's workforce has only basic schooling.

Factories can absorb such workers in large numbers. So India needs a strong manufacturing sector to give good jobs to its huge young population. Manufacturing also helps exports and reduces dependence on imports, for example of electronics from other countries.

Where did it come from?

The idea is older than 2014.

• In 2011, the government announced the National Manufacturing Policy (NMP), 2011. It set three targets: raise manufacturing's share in GDP to 25% by 2022, create 100 million (10 crore) additional manufacturing jobs, and make manufacturing grow at 12-14% a year over the medium term. It also proposed large industrial townships called National Investment and Manufacturing Zones (NIMZs).
• Make in India (2014) took up the same three targets and gave them a big national campaign, with a lion made of gears as its logo. The deadline for the 25% share was later pushed to 2025.
• In 2019, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) was renamed DPIIT (on 27 January 2019), when internal trade was added to its work.
• In 2020, the push became part of Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India), and the PLI schemes began, which pay companies cash rewards for producing more in India.
• The Union Budget 2025-26 announced a National Manufacturing Mission to cover small, medium and large industries and to take Make in India further.

The four pillars

Make in India rests on four ideas:

1. New Processes: make it easy to start and run a business, with fewer licences, fewer permissions and online approvals. This is called "ease of doing business".
2. New Infrastructure: build industrial corridors, industrial smart cities, better logistics and faster approvals for land and power.
3. New Sectors: open more sectors to foreign money, including defence, railways, insurance and medical devices, by easing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) rules.
4. New Mindset: the government acts as a helper and partner of industry, not as a controller.

How does it work in practice?

Make in India is an umbrella, not one scheme with one budget. Many policies sit under it:

• Sectors: it started with 25 focus sectors. Under Make in India 2.0 these became 27 sectors: 15 manufacturing sectors handled by DPIIT and 12 service sectors handled by the Department of Commerce.
• Invest India: the national investment promotion and facilitation agency. It was set up in 2009 as a not-for-profit company under DPIIT. It works like a single help desk that guides investors from the first enquiry to setting up a plant.
• Industrial corridors: long belts of industrial land with roads, rail, power and water already planned, such as the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, under the National Industrial Corridor Development Programme.
• Tax cuts: in September 2019, the basic corporate tax rate was cut to 22% for existing companies, and to 15% for new manufacturing companies that met the conditions.
• Cash incentives: the PLI schemes for 14 sectors and the Semicon India Programme (₹76,000 crore, approved in December 2021) for chips and display manufacturing.
• Public procurement: rules that give preference to locally made goods in government buying, and a list of defence items that must be bought only from Indian makers.

A simple way to picture it: think of India as a shop owner who wants big companies to rent space in its market. Make in India is the whole effort to make the market attractive: cleaner rules (processes), better roads and electricity (infrastructure), more open shops (sectors) and a friendly shop owner (mindset).

What has it achieved?

The results are mixed. Some sectors grew very fast. As of 2025-26, India's electronics production was reported at about ₹13 lakh crore, up from about ₹1.9 lakh crore in 2014-15. Mobile phone production rose from about ₹18,000 crore to over ₹6 lakh crore in the same period, and India became a major exporter of smartphones.

Defence production also rose several times. India's rank in the World Bank's Doing Business report rose from 142 (2014) to 63 (2019 report); the World Bank stopped this report in 2021 after problems were found in its data.

But on the three big targets, the programme fell well short. Manufacturing's share in GDP has stayed around 15-17% for the whole period, not 25%. The 100 million jobs did not come. Manufacturing growth has not stayed at 12-14% a year.

India's position in the world

India is among the world's largest manufacturing economies by total output, but its share of world goods exports has stayed below 2%. China, by contrast, makes close to a third of the world's manufactured goods. Countries like Vietnam and Bangladesh gained large shares in labour-intensive exports such as garments and footwear, where India has lagged.

Commonly confused concepts

• Make in India vs Atmanirbhar Bharat: Make in India (2014) is about making in India, including for export, and inviting foreign firms. Atmanirbhar Bharat (2020) is a wider self-reliance vision that also covers reducing dependence on imports in critical areas. PLI schemes serve both.
• Make in India vs National Manufacturing Policy 2011: the targets (25% share, 100 million jobs) first came in the NMP 2011. Make in India re-launched them with a campaign and new tools.
• Make in India vs Startup India / Digital India: these are separate flagship programmes, launched in 2016 and 2015 respectively, with different goals.
• Make in India vs "Make for India": some economists argue India should first produce for its own large home market ("Make for India"). Others argue that only exporting to the world gives the scale needed for mass jobs.

Issues, criticism and the way forward

• Targets missed: the 25% share and 100 million jobs were not reached, even after the deadline was extended.
• Assembly, not deep making: much electronics output is assembly of imported parts. The value added inside India is still low, so imports of components have also risen.
• Few sectors gain: capital-heavy sectors (electronics, solar, steel) gained most. Labour-heavy sectors (textiles, leather, footwear, food processing) that could employ millions grew slowly.
• Structural problems: high cost of land and power, costly logistics, complex labour laws (four new Labour Codes aim to simplify these), slow contract enforcement and a large skill gap.
• Weak private investment: companies have not raised investment much, partly because demand is uneven and factories are not using all their existing capacity.
• Trade policy: higher import duties on many items since 2018 made inputs costlier for exporters, some experts argue.
• Way forward suggested by experts and official documents: focus on labour-intensive sectors, bring down logistics costs, deepen local supply chains for components, help MSMEs (small and medium firms) scale up, skill workers for factory jobs, and sign trade deals that open big markets. The National Manufacturing Mission's five focus areas cover ease and cost of doing business, a future-ready workforce, a strong MSME sector, availability of technology, and quality products.

Concepts to Know

• GDP and GVA: GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is the total value of all final goods and services produced in the country in a year. GVA (Gross Value Added) measures the same output from the producer's side, sector by sector. "Manufacturing's share in GVA" tells you how big factories are in the economy.
• Foreign Direct Investment (FDI): money a foreign company puts into a business in India to own and run it, for example building a factory. It is long-term, unlike buying a few shares.
• Labour-intensive sector: a sector that needs many workers for each unit of output, such as garments or footwear. Capital-intensive sectors, like steel or chips, need more machines and fewer workers.
• Value addition: the extra value created at one step. If you import parts worth ₹80 and sell the finished phone for ₹100, your value addition is ₹20.
• MSME: Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, the small factories and businesses that employ a large share of India's industrial workers.