A lot has happened over the last one-and-a-half year under Make in India: Joint Secretary, DIPP

NEW DELHI: India's Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) Joint Secretary Ravneet Kaur said that a lot has happened over the last one-and-half years under the Make in India initiative (MII).

“There is a movement around the whole country towards manufacturing. So does the world feels about this,” said Kaur at at an exclusive plenary session on Make in India: Drafting India’s Global Manufacturing Strategy at the 22nd edition of the Partnership Summit which is taking place in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh during 10-12 January 2016.

She further added that there are different views of the MII initiative to different stakeholders. But broadly, it is to make India a major player in the Global Supply Chains. It is to increase manufacturing contribution to GDP from current 16% to 25% by 2015 and create over one million jobs per year. It is about fostering innovation, developing Skills, protecting Intellectual Property and build best in-class infrastructure.

The Joint Secretary further stated that the government has taken many initiatives to boost manufacturing in India. It has launched the E-biz portal and 24 services have been removed. India’s ranking in ‘ease of doing business’ has improved from 142 to 130. The Government is promoting competitive federalism and pushing states to make doing business easy. Andhra Pradesh ranked second in the ranking. But the key to ‘Make in India’ is ‘Invest in India’.

Irene Hors, Head of Division of Strategic Partnerships and New Initiatives, OECD, France said that what matters for India, matters for the world. India government is moving in the right direction. Recently there has been FDI surge in India, while FDI slowing down in other markets. Though India continues to rank low in attracting FDI, according to OECD, India has progressed in ease of doing business.

Hors further stated that there is importance of attracting FDIs in services. About two-third of the value added in manufacturing is services oriented. India is more restrictive in a number of sectors like railway transport, insurance, etc which will have impact on manufacturing.

Kishore Jayaraman, President-India & South Asia, Rolls-Royce India Private Limited said that it is important to have a vision to achieve anything. MII initiative is an example. He said, “We haven’t heard such precise vision.” The job of the industry now is to carry on. Rolls-Royce India is building an eco-system, supply chain, have strategy within the company to suit MII. Next step is that India needs to create innovative products and brands.

Josh Foulger, Managing Director, Foxconn India Development Ltd shared his thoughts saying that MII has brought a lot of things together. The policy of ‘Net Zero Imports’ in the electronics industry will not only promote manufacturing to meet domestic demands but also exports the rest.

Phil Shaw, Chief Executive, Lockheed Martin in India, remarked that manufacturing requires vast pool of talent. India needs to create conducive education eco-system to create large scale talent pool. There has to be different level of skilled workforces need to be developed.

Srini Srinivasan, Managing Director, Hospira (a Pfizer Company) who was also the chair of the session said that MII has become a momentum for the whole country. The DIPP has taken a key leadership role in promoting the MII initiative. However, MII is more than manufacturing. It is about building and leveraging competitive capabilities in global market place. There are four pillars to it – policies like ease of doing business, infrastructure, FDI policy in different sectors and a new mindset.

Ambassador Frank G Wisner, International Affairs Advisor, Patton Boggs LLP, USA highlighted the need for India to integrate with the Global Economic Architecture to ensure trhe success of MII.