Twelve Years of Make in India: Achievements and Roadblocks

#GS-3 #Economy #Infrastructure #Manufacturing #Make in India #Industrial Growth #PLI Scheme

Key takeaways

The Make in India program completes twelve years, driving cumulative FDI inflows to $843 billion between 2014 and 2026.
Domestic electronics output expanded from ₹1.9 lakh crore in 2014-15 to ₹13.11 lakh crore in 2025-26.
Under the PLI scheme across 14 sectors, India attracted ₹2.40 lakh crore in fresh private investments.
Indian manufacturing faces a downstream assembly trap that remains reliant on imported components like microchips and printed circuit boards.

The Indian government marked the twelfth anniversary of the Make in India initiative launched on September 25, 2014.
The initiative transformed from an investment promotion campaign into a deep industrial manufacturing model across 27 sectors.

The Make in India campaign aims to convert the country into a global manufacturing, design, and innovation center.
It seeks to spur economic growth by motivating domestic and foreign firms to build their products inside India.
The program operates under the philosophy of Minimum Government, Maximum Governance.
Under Make in India 2.0, the government expanded the focus to 27 sectors including 15 manufacturing and 12 service sectors.

Manufacturing Gross Value Added at constant prices grew at a compound annual rate of 10.88% between 2022-23 and 2025-26.
The manufacturing section of the Index of Industrial Production expanded by 7.0% during April-July 2026 compared to 2025.

Total electronics production increased sevenfold from ₹1.9 lakh crore in 2014-15 to ₹13.11 lakh crore in 2025-26.
Mobile phone production surged 33-fold to ₹6.27 lakh crore, making India the second-largest mobile phone manufacturer globally.
Vehicle output reached 31.03 million units in 2024-25, marking a 33% expansion over 2014-15.
Between 2020-21 and 2024-25, passenger and commercial vehicle output grew by 65%, three-wheelers by 71%, and two-wheelers by 30%.
The pharmaceutical sector maintained 3rd place globally by volume and 11th by value, with annual turnover reaching ₹4,71,898 crore in 2024-25.
Domestic medical device production grew by 48.2% to reach ₹41,500 crore in 2024-25.
Crude steel production doubled from 81.7 million tonnes in 2014-15 to 170.0 million tonnes in 2025-26.
Indian Railways produced 54,809 coaches between 2014 and 2024, while producing 1,674 locomotives and 6,677 modern LHB coaches in 2025-26.
Domestic defense production value grew by 283% from ₹46,429 crore in 2014-15 to ₹1.78 lakh crore in FY 2025-26.

Indian pharmaceutical firms manufactured Trastuzumab Emtansine, which is the world's first biosimilar antibody drug for breast cancer.
Researchers commercialized Docaravimab-Miromavimab, the first anti-rabies monoclonal antibody combination in the world.
Scientists introduced Miqnaf for bacterial pneumonia alongside Desidustat to treat anemia in chronic kidney conditions.
A pilot plant began operations in March 2026 at ARCI Hyderabad to produce sintered Nd-Fe-B rare earth magnets for electric vehicles.
ISRO and SCL developed space-grade microprocessors named VIKRAM3201 and KALPANA3201.
Solar module manufacturing capacity expanded from 2.3 GW in 2014 to 192 GW by June 2026, while cell capacity reached 30 GW.
Heavy engineering and capital goods production doubled to ₹5,69,900 crore in 2024-25.
Machine tool production grew by 132.2% and earthmoving machinery output expanded by 160.3%.

The government allowed 100% FDI through the automatic route in most sectors, attracting $843 billion in cumulative FDI between 2014 and 2026.
The National Single Window System (NSWS) integrated 327 Central and 3,452 State approvals to streamline industrial clearances.
Under PM GatiShakti, the Network Planning Group evaluated 396 infrastructure projects worth ₹18.66 lakh crore.
The India Industrial Land Bank (IILB) mapped 4,220 industrial parks across 6.98 lakh hectares of land.
The PLI scheme across 14 sectors attracted ₹2.40 lakh crore in investment and created over 14 lakh direct jobs by June 2026.
The Startup India program recognized over 2.54 lakh startups by September 2026.

The government approved Semicon 2.0 in July 2026 with an outlay of ₹1,27,500 crore to build semiconductor fabrication units.
The Mobile Phone Manufacturing Scheme (MPMS) received ₹62,500 crore to move manufacturing from assembly to core component production.
The BHAVYA scheme allocated ₹33,660 crore to set up 100 plug and play industrial parks over 6 years.
BHAVYA-Rasayan provided ₹3,030 crore to build three specialized chemical parks with central waste management facilities.
The Rare Earth Magnets Scheme allocated ₹7,280 crore to establish 6,000 MTPA permanent magnet production capacity.
The PLI for Specialty Steel scheme expanded to cover superalloys, cold-rolled steel, and titanium alloys.

Domestic assembly lines still rely heavily on imported sub-assemblies, precision parts, and raw components.
Expanding final product assembly has increased imports of capital equipment and circuit boards from countries like China.
High industrial power tariffs and complex land regulations at the state level increase production costs relative to global rivals.
Translating research innovations into private commercial production lines faces a shortage of venture capital funds.

Future PLI disbursements should reward local value addition instead of simple final assembly turnover.
Expanding multi-modal transport under PM GatiShakti can reduce logistics costs below 9% of GDP.
Funding from the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) should foster research partnerships with deep-tech startups.
Integrating small and medium enterprises into global defense and electronics supply chains will strengthen local production.

Sustaining industrial growth requires moving beyond basic assembly toward mastering precision engineering and component manufacturing.
Combining infrastructure growth under PM GatiShakti with tech schemes like Semicon 2.0 will build resilient supply chains.