26/11/2015
PROGRAM
The Make in India program was launched by Prime
Minister Modi in September 2014 as part of a wider
set of nation-building initiatives. Devised to transform
India into a global design and manufacturing hub,
Make in India was a timely response to a critical
situation: by 2013, the much-hyped emerging markets
bubble had burst, and India’s growth rate had fallen to
its lowest level in a decade. The promise of the BRICS
nations had faded, and India was tagged as one of
the so-called ‘Fragile Five’. Global investors debated
whether the world’s largest democracy was a risk or
an opportunity. India’s 1.2 billion citizens questioned
whether India was too big to succeed or too big to
fail. India was on the brink of severe economic failure.
PROCESS
Make in India was launched by Prime Minister Modi
against the backdrop of this crisis, and quickly
became a rallying cry for India’s innumerable
stakeholders and partners. It was a powerful,
galvanising call to action to India’s citizens and
business leaders, and an invitation to potential
partners and investors around the world. But, Make in
India is much more than an inspiring slogan. It
represents a comprehensive and unprecedented
overhaul of out-dated processes and policies. Most
importantly, it represents a complete change of the
Government’s mindset – a shift from issuing authority
to business partner, in keeping with Prime Minister
Modi’s tenet of ‘Minimum Government, Maximum
Governance’.
PLAN
To start a movement, you need a strategy that
inspires, empowers and enables in equal measure.
Make in India needed a different kind of campaign:
instead of the typical statistics-laden newspaper
advertisements, this exercise required messaging that
was informative, well-packaged and most importantly,
credible. It had to (a) inspire confidence in India’s
capabilities amongst potential partners abroad, the
Indian business community and citizens at large; (b)
provide a framework for a vast amount of technical
information on 25 industry sectors; and (c) reach out
to a vast local and global audience via social media
and constantly keep them updated about
opportunities, reforms, etc.
The Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion
(DIPP) worked with a group of highly specialised
agencies to build brand new infrastructure, including a
dedicated help desk and a mobile-first website that
packed a wide array of information into a simple,
sleek menu. Designed primarily for mobile screens, the
site’s architecture ensured that exhaustive levels of
detail are neatly tucked away so as not to overwhelm
the user. 25 sector brochures were also developed:
Contents included key facts and figures, policies and
initiatives and sector-specific contact details, all of
which was made available in print and on site.
PARTNERSHIPS
The Make in India program has been built on layers of
collaborative effort. DIPP initiated this process by
inviting participation from Union Ministers, Secretaries
to the Government of India, state governments,
industry leaders, and various knowledge partners.
Next, a National Workshop on sector specific
industries in December 2014 brought Secretaries to
the Government of India and industry leaders together
to debate and formulate an action plan for the next
three years, aimed at raising the contribution of the
manufacturing sector to 25% of the GDP by 2020. This
plan was presented to the Prime Minister, Union
Ministers, industry associations and industry leaders
by the Secretaries to the Union Government and the
Chief Secretary, Maharashtra on behalf of state
governments.
These exercises resulted in a road map for the single
largest manufacturing initiative undertaken by a nation
in recent history. They also demonstrated the
transformational power of public-private partnership,
and have become a hallmark of the Make in India
program. This collaborative model has also been
successfully extended to include India’s global
partners, as evidenced by the recent in-depth
interactions between India and the United States of
America.
PROGRESS
In a short space of time, the obsolete and obstructive
frameworks of the past have been dismantled and
replaced with a transparent and user-friendly system
that is helping drive investment, foster innovation,
develop skills, protect IP and build best-in-class
manufacturing infrastructure. The most striking
indicator of progress is the unprecedented opening up
of key sectors – including Railways, Defence,
Insurance and Medical Devices – to dramatically
higher levels of Foreign Direct Investment.
A workshop titled “Make in India – Sectorial
perspective & initiatives” was conducted on 29th
December, 2014 under which an action plan for 1 year
and 3 years has been prepared to boost investments
in 25 sectors.
The ministry has engaged with the World Bank group
to identify areas of improvement in line with World
Bank’s ‘doing business’ methodology. A 2 day
workshop and several follow up meetings were held to
formulate framework which could boost India’s
ranking which is currently 142 in terms of Ease of
doing business.
An 8 membered investor facilitation cell (IFC)
dedicated for the Make in India campaign was formed
in September 2014 with an objective to assist
investors in seeking regulatory approvals, hand-
holding services through the pre-investment phase,
ex*****on and after-care support.
The Indian embassies and consulates have also been
communicated to disseminate information on the
potential for investment in the identified sectors. DIPP
has set up a special management team to facilitate
and fast track investment proposals from Japan, the
team known as ‘Japan Plus’ has been operationalized
w.e.f October 2014.
Various sectors have been opened up for investments
like Defence, Railways, Space, etc. Also, the regulatory
policies have been relaxed to facilitate investments
and ease of doing business.
Six industrial corridors are being developed across
various regions of the country. Industrial Cities will
also come up along these corridors.
Today, India’s credibility is stronger than ever. There
is visible momentum, energy and optimism. Make in
India is opening investment doors. Multiple
enterprises are adopting its mantra. The world’s
largest democracy is well on its way to becoming the
world’s most powerful economy.
