AIR Spotlight- Discussion on Make in India, Make for India and Abroad

AIR Spotlight is an insightful program featured daily on the All India Radio Newsonair. In this program, many eminent panelists discuss issues of importance which can be quite helpful in IAS exam preparation. This article is about discussion on Make in India, Make for India and Abroad.

Participants:

• Ms Sumita Dawra, Additional Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade
• Sonu Sood, AIR Correspondent

Context: Make in India, the flagship program of the Government of India that aspires to facilitate investment, foster innovation, enhance skill development, and build best-in-class manufacturing infrastructure, completes 8 years of path-breaking reforms on 25th September 2022. 

Introduction:

• Make in India was launched to attract foreign investment for new industrialisation and develop the already existing industry base in India to surpass that of China.
  • Target of an increase in manufacturing sector growth to 12-14% per annum over the medium term.
  • To increase the share of manufacturing sector in the country’s Gross Domestic Product and create 100 million additional jobs.

Progress so far:

• The program has improved the investment climate and boosted Manufacturing in India.
• FDI inflows in India stood at US $ 45.15 billion in 2014-2015 and have since consecutively reached the highest ever FDI at $83.6 billion in the year 2021-22.
• This FDI has come from 101 countries, and invested across 31 UTs and States and 57 sectors in the country. 
• There are several trends that mark a shift in Indian manufacturing, which includes increase in domestic value addition & local sourcing, a greater focus on R & D, innovation and sustainability measures. 

Policies to facilitate Make in India program:

• Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme across 14 key manufacturing sectors, was launched in 2020-21 as a big boost to Make in India initiative. 
  • In strategic growth industries where India has a comparative advantage, the PLI Scheme encourages domestic production.
  • This entails improving domestic manufacturing, creating robust supply networks, raising the competitiveness of Indian enterprises, and increasing export potential. The PLI Scheme is anticipated to have a major positive impact on employment and output, with benefits that further assist the MSME eco-system.
• In 2021, the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) approved a comprehensive Program for the Development of Semiconductors and Display Manufacturing Ecosystems in India.
  • The government proposed to provide incentives worth Rs 76,000 crore for the development of semiconductors and display manufacturing ecosystems over the next six years.
• Other reform measures to strengthen the Make in India initiative includes,
  • Liberalisation of guidelines and regulations, in order to reduce unnecessary compliance burden, bring down cost and enhance the ease of doing business in India. 
  • Burdensome compliances to rules and regulations have been reduced through simplification, rationalisation, decriminalisation, and digitisation, making it easier to do business in India. 
• Labour reforms have brought flexibility in hiring and retrenchment. 
• Quality control orders have been introduced to ensure quality in local manufacturing. 
• Steps to promote manufacturing and investments also include reduction in corporate taxes, public procurement orders and Phased Manufacturing Programme. 
• The  National Single Window System (NSWS) was soft-launched by the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry in September 2021 to improve the ease-of-doing-business by providing a single digital platform to investors for approvals and clearances. 
  • This portal has integrated multiple existing clearance systems of the various Ministries/Departments of Government of India and State Governments to enhance the investor experience. 
• The Prime Minister’s Gatishakti programme, an initiative of the government to promote multimodal connectivity to the nation’s manufacturing hubs, will guarantee logistical effectiveness in company operations by building better connectivity-related infrastructure. This will make it possible for people and things to travel more quickly, improving access to markets, hubs, and opportunities while also cutting the cost of logistics.
• The One-District-One-Product (ODOP) initiative is another example of the “Make in India” vision, which aims to facilitate the promotion and production of indigenous products from each district of the nation and to give artisans and manufacturers of handloom, handicraft, textile, agricultural, and processed products a global platform. 
  • This will help to further the socioeconomic development of the various regions of the nation.

Benefits of digitization of the systems for  project approvals and clearances:

• The government launched the national single-window system for investors and businesses. The portal will integrate the existing clearance systems of the Centre and states.
• So far, 24 Ministries and Departments of the Government of India and 16 States and UT’s have already joined the National single window system. 
• About 22,000 approvals have already been granted on the national single window system making it easier for investors to get clearance at one platform.
• It has become a “one stop shop” for state and Central government compliances and brings transparency, accountability and responsiveness in the ecosystem.
• It will also offer a Know Your Approvals service to inform businesses of the details of all the approvals they need to obtain as well as a common registration form, document repository and e-communication module.
• It has provided strength to other schemes e.g. Make in India, Startup India, PLI scheme etc.

Make in India and Toy Industries

• During his Mann ki Baat broadcast in August 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced his desire to make India a centre for the production of toys as well as to improve domestic designing and manufacturing capabilities.
• Due to a shortage of raw materials, appropriate technology, design capability, etc., the toy industry in India has always been dependent on imports.
• In 2018-19, Toys worth USD 371 Million were imported into India. A large proportion of these toys were unsafe, substandard, counterfeit, and cheap.  
• The Make in India initiative has yielded positive results for the toy sector in the country. According to the government data, the import of toys has declined 70% while a 61% surge in exports has been seen in the last three years.
• The interventions taken by the government to promote Make-in-India in the toy sector include bringing it under compulsory Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certification, quality testing and an increase in customs duty from 20% to 60%.
• Several promotional initiatives including The India Toy Fair 2021, Toycathon 2021, Toy Business League 2022 were conducted to promote indigenous toys to encourage innovation and new-age design to suit global requirements. 

Procurement Policy:

• The Government of India has approved a national procurement policy that gives preference to ‘Make In India’ in government procurements. 
• The policy aims to maintain the balance between promoting ‘Make in India’ and ensuring timely, quality and value-for-money products for the procuring government entities.

Conclusion:

Innovation and adherence to global standards of quality are  key elements for long-term rapid growth and development of the country. The Make in India initiative has been striving to ensure that the business ecosystem in the nation is conducive for investors doing business in India and contributing to growth and development of the Nation. 

With the above initiative at the forefront, the businesses in India are aiming that the products that are ‘Made in India’ are also ‘Made for the World,’ adhering to global standards of quality. 

Read previous AIR Spotlight articles in the link.

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