Make in India at 12: Manufacturing Growth and the Road Ahead

Context

Make in India, launched in 2014, has completed 12 years, with manufacturing capabilities expanding across key sectors. However, its contribution to the economy remains modest, with manufacturing’s GVA share rising only from 14.6% in 2022-23 to 15.6% in 2025-26 under the revised GDP series.

About Make in India

1. Objective: Make India a global hub for manufacturing, design and innovation by improving investment, infrastructure, technology and ease of doing business.
2. Make in India 2.0: Covers 27 sectors — 15 manufacturing and 12 services.
3. Supporting Initiatives: Includes PLI schemes, National Single Window System (NSWS), PM GatiShakti and India Industrial Land Bank.

Key Gains

1. Manufacturing Growth: Manufacturing outpaced overall GDP growth during 2023-24 to 2025-26, though the gap has narrowed.
2. Electronics: Production rose from ₹1.9 lakh crore (2014-15) to ₹13.11 lakh crore (2025-26), while mobile-phone production increased from ₹18,000 crore to ₹6.27 lakh crore.
3. Steel & Defence: Crude steel output doubled from 81.7 MT to 170 MT, while defence production rose from ₹46,429 crore to ₹1.78 lakh crore.
4. Solar Manufacturing: Solar-module capacity increased from 2.3 GW (2014) to 192 GW (June 2026).
5. PLI Impact: The 14 PLI schemes attracted ₹2.40 lakh crore investment, generated ₹22.66 lakh crore production and sales, supported ₹15.20 lakh crore exports and created 14 lakh+ jobs by June 2026.

Challenges

1. Limited Manufacturing Share: Manufacturing’s share in GVA has risen only marginally, indicating limited structural transformation.
2. Limited Export Competitiveness: Despite growth in non-petroleum exports, India’s share in global merchandise exports remains around 1.7%, indicating limited global competitiveness.
3. Weak Private Investment: Private GFCF as a share of GDP has declined, limiting fresh productive capacity.
4. Lower Manufacturing FDI: Manufacturing FDI grew more slowly than overall FDI in 7 of the 12 years.
5. Under-utilised Capacity: Capacity utilisation remains below the 80% level generally linked with new capacity creation.
6. PLI Concentration: About 83% of PLI investment is concentrated in five sectors, limiting broader industrial diversification.

Way Forward

1. Build Domestic Value Chains: Promote component and intermediate-goods manufacturing to increase domestic value addition.
2. Boost Private Investment: Improve infrastructure, policy stability and access to finance, especially for MSMEs.
3. Raise Productivity: Promote technology adoption, R&D, skill development and higher capacity utilisation.
4. Expand Global Integration: Diversify PLI-supported sectors, strengthen global value-chain integration and increase non-petroleum exports.
5. Strengthen Strategic Manufacturing: Support Semicon 2.0, BHAVYA and rare-earth permanent magnet manufacturing to build critical capabilities.

Conclusion

Over the past 12 years, Make in India has expanded India’s manufacturing capabilities across electronics, steel, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, defence and solar equipment. The next phase should focus on broad-based manufacturing, higher private investment, stronger exports and greater domestic value addition.

FAQs

Q1. When was Make in India launched?
Ans: Make in India was launched on 25 September 2014 to promote India as a global manufacturing, design and innovation hub.

Q2. What is the current share of manufacturing in India’s GVA?
Ans: Manufacturing’s share in GVA increased from 14.6% in 2022-23 to 15.6% in 2025-26 under the revised national accounts series.

Q3. What is the significance of the PLI scheme for Make in India?
Ans: The 14 PLI schemes aim to attract investment, expand domestic production, create jobs and improve India’s competitiveness in selected manufacturing sectors.

Q4. What does capacity utilisation indicate?
Ans: It shows how much of a factory’s existing production capacity is actually being used.