Made In India And Private Businesses

Decades before, a movement called the “Swadeshi movement” was led to improve the economy of India by reviving domestic products and production processes. A similar movement, “Make in India” was launched by the Government of India under the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, on 25th of September in the year 2014 for the similar cause of making India the manufacturing hub. The Ministry of Finance played the role of a backbone in the launch of this massive project. The main agenda of the project is to encourage worldwide companies to carry their production activities in India covering the 25 sectors of the economy. The policy permits 100% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in all the sectors, however, this excludes Space, Defense and News Media in which FDI only up to 74%, 49% and 26% respectively is allowed. It would not be fallacious to say that the project has brought huge success with it to India. Investments commitments worth INR 16.40 lakh crore (US $240 billion) and investment inquiries worth INR 1.5 lakh crore (US $22 billion) right after the launch of the movement, made India the Top Destination Globally for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the year 2015. In the same year, India did beat USA and China (the then leading countries for FDI) with approximately US $60.1 billion FDI. In fact India received FDI amounting US $60 billion from US itself in the Financial Year 2016-17. India signed a special contract with Japan also in the name of “JapanIndia Make-in- India Special Finance Facility” to help push investment with a fund of US $12 billion. Soon after India bagged higher positions on several other indexes, 42nd place on “Ease of Doing Business Index”, 32nd place on “World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index, 19 notches in the “Logistics Performance Index” to name a few. Also there have been several reports to prove factory growth has been highest in the year of launch of Make in India Project in almost two years, the HSBC Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) being one of those showing growth of approximate 2%. Undoubtedly, this project of Make in India has led to a combined success of other important schemes of the Indian Government including Bharatmala, Sagarmala, Dedicated Freight Corridors, Industrial Corridors, UDAN-RCS, Bharat Broadband Network and Digital India. Apart from the PAN India initiative, several states built their own versions of Make in India specifically for their own states, like “Vibrant Gujarat”, “Happening Haryana” and “Magnetic Maharashtra”. The government has now even appointed the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the National Productivity Council to get the refined and correct feedback on various reform measures resulting into inter-state competition. Each state is thus competing to improve its position on the “Ease of Doing Business Index”. Telangana, Haryana, Odisha, Chattisgarh and West Bengal ranks the highest as per the February, 2018 reports. Quite obviously for the uninterrupted growth of the industry, modern and facilitating infrastructure is a must. This has led to upgradation of existing infrastructure and development of new and modern infrastructure through fast paced registration system further leading to improved infrastructure and rise in the job opportunities in the country. Further with the grand collection of Foreign Direct Investment, rupee is going to be strengthened against other American denominations. Development of Rural areas is another addition to the benefits of the initiative with such massive flow of investment. Contrary to that Make in India has certain disadvantages attached to it. And agriculture being the highest affected. India constitutes about 61% cultivable land and with the introduction of the industrial sectors, agriculture has faced reduction in the past years. Another undeniable fact is that there is going to be a steady depletion of the natural resources of the country further leading to disruption of land also. Also introduction of industrial and manufacturing sector is going to affect other economic sectors of the country drastically making India a Manufacturing based Economy which earlier was majorly equipped by the service sector, i.e., 57%. Pollution comes hand in hand with the manufacturing and this has added further to the already polluted air of the country. However, since privatization has majorly equipped the country India, private companies cannot be forgotten. They play a key role in almost every sector of the economy. Since all the sectors have been privatized, private sectors cannot be ignored for the true success of Make in India project. To give numbers, almost twothird of the total projects that have been stalled are made by the private companies. In fact to bridge the gap between estimates and statistics, private players are given greater importance than ever. Young entrepreneurs are encouraged to employ their innovative ideas in order to improve employment opportunities and strengthen the Make in India initiative. Engaging private sector has also helped improve the GDP of the Indian Economy as they play a vital role in the economy of the country. The opening of the defence sector for private sector participation has helped foreign Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to enter into strategic partnerships for a global reach. One such achievement was when in October 2015, a total of 19 private companies got permission from the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) to manufacture a certain range of Defence products in the name of PM Narendra Modi’s Make in India initiative. Kalyani Strategic Systems Limited being the highest gainer with a permission of manufacturing about 13 new types of products. Small manufacturers of Indian merchandise shall also boom with this Make in India initiative as masses prefer International branding. With FDI in the brand value of Indian Private Merchandise will rise dramatically. Along with introduction to latest technology helps the private companies compete in the global markets in terms of quality and prices. Overall Make in India seems to be a promising initiative for the country keeping aside the cons that comes its way as no development can be one hundred percent a win-win situation. Also the pros overpowers the cons and thus we look forward to the further developments to the project.