12 Years of Make in India

Syllabus: GS3/Economy

Context

• Recently, the Make in India completed its 12 years, with India’s manufacturing expansion spanning electronics, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, steel, railways, defence and strategic technologies.

About Make in India

• Make in India was launched on 25 September 2014 with the aim to make India a global hub for manufacturing, design and innovation. 
• Its broad approach was based on facilitating investment, encouraging innovation, improving infrastructure and simplifying government processes under the principle of ‘Minimum Government, Maximum Governance’.
• Over time, the initiative evolved into Make in India 2.0 expanding to 27 sectors, 15 manufacturing and 12 services sectors.

Achievements of Make in India

• Growth in Manufacturing: Manufacturing GVA expanded at a CAGR of 10.88% in 2022-23 to 2025-26 (at constant prices).
  • Manufacturing Index of Industrial Production (IIP) increased 7% during April-July 2026 over the corresponding period of 2025.
  • Electronics production rose nearly seven-fold, from about ₹1.9 lakh crore in 2014-15 to ₹13.11 lakh crore in 2025-26.
  • Vehicle production was 31.03 million units in 2024-25, which was about 33% higher than in 2014-15.
  • Crude steel output grew to 170 million tonnes from 81.7 million tonnes.
  • Indigenous defence manufacturing has grown from ₹46,429 crore to a record ₹1.78 lakh crore in 2025-26.
  • India’s pharmaceutical sector is presently the third largest in the world by volume and 11th largest by value, with sales of ₹5,08,630 crore in 2025-26.

• Expanding Domestic Capabilities: India has produced indigenous VIKRAM3201 and KALPANA3201 microprocessors for space applications.
  • Solar module production capacity has grown from 2.3 GW in 2014 to 192 GW in June 2026.
  • Indigenous capabilities have emerged in EV drive systems, aircraft structures, railway components and nuclear components.
  • Effort to develop capabilities in strategically essential technology is a pilot plant for Nd-Fe-B rare-earth permanent magnets at ARCI, Hyderabad.
• Capital Goods and Machinery: The manufacturing of capital goods and heavy engineering equipment was close to quadruple at ₹5.70 lakh crore in 2024-25 from ₹2.87 lakh crore in 2019-20.
  • Earthmoving and mining machinery gained 160.3 percent, machine tools 132.2 percent, and heavy electrical equipment 103.5 percent.
• Reforms and Investment: Make in India has been supported by institutional reforms and investment facilitation:
  • $843 billion cumulative FDI during 2014-15 to 2025-26.
  • National Single Window System (NSWS) covering more that 327 Central and 3,452 State approvals.
  • India Industrial Land Bank mapping 4,220 industrial parks.
  • PM GatiShakti’s Network Planning Group evaluating 396 projects worth ₹18.66 lakh crore.
  • PLI initiatives in 14 sectors supported production and sales of ₹23.8 lakh crore and 14.6 lakh employment, and Startup India had over 2.54 lakh recognised startups.
• New Initiatives Launched: The next phase is increasingly concentrated on strategic sectors:
  • Semicon 2.0: ₹1.275 lakh crore
  • Mobile Phone Manufacturing Scheme: ₹62,500 crore
  • Bharat Audyogik Vikas Yojana (BHAVYA): ₹33,660 crore for 100 industrial parks
  • Rare-earth magnet scheme: ₹7,280 crore
  • Bharat Audyogik Vikas Yojana Rasayan (BHAVYA Rasayan): ₹3,030 crore for three chemical parks
  • PLI for Specialty Steel: covering advanced categories such as CRGO steel, titanium alloys and coated steel.

Related Issues & Concerns

• Higher production does not automatically translate into higher domestic value addition, mass employment or stronger global value-chain integration.
• India continues to face challenges relating to MSME competitiveness, skill gaps, technology acquisition, logistics, critical-input dependence and uneven integration with global manufacturing networks.
• The key challenge, therefore, is to ensure that manufacturing growth becomes employment-intensive, innovation-driven and export-oriented, rather than remaining concentrated in selected sectors or stages of production.

Way Forward

• India needs to move from assembly-led manufacturing towards deeper value addition by:
  • Integrating MSMEs into global value chains.
  • Increasing public and private R&D and industry-academia collaboration.
  • Developing specialised skills for semiconductors, EVs, aerospace, biotechnology and advanced manufacturing.
  • Building reliable domestic supply chains for critical minerals, rare earths and strategic components.
  • Linking industrial incentives more closely with productivity, exports, innovation and technology transfer.
  • Improving logistics, infrastructure and ease of doing business at the State and local levels.

Conclusion

• After 12 years, the character of Make in India is changing. The focus is no longer simply on ‘making more’, but on making more of the value chain in India.
• The next stage will determine whether expanded production capacity can translate into technology leadership, productive employment, resilient supply chains and sustained participation in global manufacturing.

Source: DD News