The world is looking at India as a manufacturing powerhouse, says Modi

New Delhi, March 3, 2022

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said the world was looking at India as a manufacturing powerhouse and urged entrepreneurs to work towards creating a robust manufacturing base in the country.

Addressing a post-Budget webinar organized by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, on the theme of "Make in India for the World", Modi said the 2022-23 Budget has many significant provisions for Aatmnirbhar Bharat (Self-Reliant India) and Make in India.

“It is not acceptable that a country like India ends up merely as a market,” he said and referred to the supply chain disruptions during the pandemic and other uncertainties to underline the critical importance of Make in India.

“On the other hand, positive factors like demographic dividend of young and talented population, democratic set-up and natural resources should encourage us to move towards Make in India with determination,” he added.

He also referred to his call for zero defect-zero effect manufacturing that he gave from the ramparts of Red Fort. “Aatmnirbharta is all the more important if we see it from the prism of national security,” he added.

“The world is looking at India as a manufacturing powerhouse. At present, manufacturing forms 15% of India’s GDP, but there are infinite possibilities and we should work with full strength to create a robust manufacturing base in India,” he said.

He gave examples of new demand and opportunities in sectors like semi-conductors and electric vehicles where manufacturers should move with a sense of removing dependencies on foreign sources. Similarly, areas like steel and medical equipment need to be focussed on for indigenous manufacturing.

The Prime Minister stressed the difference between the availability of a product as opposed to a made in India product in the market. He said he was dismayed to find that many of the items for various festivals were from foreign providers when these could easily have been made by Indian manufacturers.

The ambit of "Vocal for Local" goes well beyond buying "diyas" on Diwali, he said, and asked the private sector to push the factors of vocal for local and Aatmnirbhar Bharat in their marketing and branding efforts. “Take pride in the products your company makes and instil this sense of pride in your Indian customers as well. For this, some common branding can also be considered,” he added.

Modi highlighted the need to find new destinations for the local products. He urged the private sector to enhance spending on R&D and to diversify and upgrade its product portfolio. Referring to the declaration of 2023 as the International Year of Millets, the Prime Minister said, “The demand for millets is increasing in the world. By studying the world markets, we should prepare our mills in advance for maximum production and packaging.”

He referred to new possibilities due to the opening up of areas like mining, coal and defence and asked the participants to prepare a new strategy. “You will have to maintain global standards and you will also have to compete globally,” he said.

This budget has given significant importance to MSME through credit facilitation and technology upgradation. The government has also announced a RAMP programme of Rs 6,000 crore for MSMEs. The budget has also focused on developing new railway logistics products for farmers, large industries and MSMEs. The integration of postal and railway networks will solve the problems of connectivity in small enterprises and remote areas.

The regional manufacturing ecosystem can be strengthened by using the model of PM DevINE which has been announced for the North-East Region. Similarly, reforms in Special Economic Zone Act will provide a boost for the exports, he added.

Elaborating on the impact of the reforms, he said in the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for large scale electronics manufacturing, a target of 1 lakh crore rupees worth of production was achieved in December 2021. Many other PLI schemes were in critical stages of implementation.

On facilitating ease of business, he mentioned the removal of 25,000 compliances and auto-renewal of licences, leading to a significant reduction in the compliance burden. Similarly, digitization is bringing speed and transparency to the regulatory framework.

The Prime Minister called upon the captains of industry to pick up some areas and work to remove foreign dependence in those sectors.

These webinars were aimed at including the stakeholder voices in the policy implementation and developing a collaborative approach for proper, timely and seamless implementation of the budget provisions for better outcomes, he added.

NNN