Make in India
& the National
Manufacturing Mission
Launched in 2014, Make in India aims to turn the country into a global manufacturing powerhouse — targeting 25% of GDP and 100 million jobs. A decade on, the new National Manufacturing Mission (Budget 2025-26) gives it fresh teeth, backed by the PLI scheme’s ₹2.16 lakh crore in investments and 14+ lakh jobs.
Make in India is the government’s flagship programme to transform the country into a global design and manufacturing powerhouse. A decade after its 2014 launch, the ambition is being renewed through the National Manufacturing Mission (NMM) — a more targeted, implementation-focused push. This guide simplifies both, with the latest progress data, in a student-friendly format.
Make in India was the slogan; the PLI scheme, Gati Shakti, and now the National Manufacturing Mission are the machinery. A vision becomes a factory only when the ease-of-doing-business promise meets reliable power, cheap logistics, and skilled hands. — Legacy IAS Faculty
Make in India — The Basics
Launched in 2014, Make in India set out to make the country a global design and manufacturing hub. Its headline ambition: raise manufacturing’s share of GDP to 25% and create 100 million new jobs. The strategy spans 27 key sectors and rests on four pillars:
New Processes
Improving ease of doing business — simpler approvals, faster clearances, less red tape.
New Infrastructure
Industrial corridors, smart cities, and logistics to support modern manufacturing.
New Sectors
Opening up and prioritising new sectors for FDI and growth (defence, electronics, etc.).
New Mindset
Shifting the government’s role from regulator to facilitator — a partner to industry.
Make in India is a powerful statement of intent, but a slogan alone can’t build factories. Its success depends on follow-through via more targeted schemes — chiefly the PLI scheme (cash incentives for output) and PM Gati Shakti (infrastructure coordination). Think of Make in India as the destination, and PLI/Gati Shakti as the vehicle.
The National Manufacturing Mission (NMM)
Announced in the Union Budget 2025-26, the NMM is designed to strengthen Make in India — pushing manufacturing’s GDP share toward 25%, boosting employment, and integrating India into global value chains (GVCs). Its key features:
Empowered Body
A dedicated body to lead policy and implementation — fixing the old “intent without delivery” gap.
Sector Clusters
Focus on sector-specific clusters (e.g., automotive) to drive scale and ecosystems.
Fiscal Incentives
Production-Linked Incentives (PLIs) and other support to reward output and investment.
Ease of Doing Business
Cutting regulatory barriers to make setting up and running factories easier.
Future-Ready Workforce
Skilling for in-demand jobs; making India a global hub for toys and climate-friendly manufacturing.
MSME Support & QCOs
Targeted finance/policy for MSMEs, plus Quality Control Orders (QCOs) to lift standards.
Potential Impact of the NMM
- Attract global anchor players — strengthening India’s position in world manufacturing.
- Deepen the domestic component ecosystem — cutting import reliance in solar PV cells, EV batteries, motors & controllers, electrolysers, wind turbines, high-voltage transmission equipment, and grid-scale batteries.
- Boost exports and improve India’s global market share.
- Address cost disadvantages & regulatory hurdles to enhance competitiveness.
- Make Indian manufacturing globally competitive and resilient.
Today India often does final assembly while importing the costly “brains” (chips, cells, motors). The NMM wants to make those high-value components here — so a solar panel or EV battery is genuinely “Made in India,” not just “Assembled in India.” That captures more value, more jobs, and more resilience.
Where Things Stand — Latest Data (2025-26)
PLI momentum: the 14-sector PLI scheme has drawn ₹2.16 lakh crore in investment and crossed ₹20 lakh crore in incremental production, creating ~14.4 lakh jobs (Dec 2025).
The mobile-phone success story: domestic mobile production jumped from ₹18,000 crore (2014-15) to over ₹5.45 lakh crore (FY25) — a ~28-fold rise — with India now a net exporter of phones (electronics production up 146% over FY21-25).
Semiconductors: 10 projects approved (~₹1.60 lakh crore); Micron’s Sanand plant is operational and Tata’s Dholera fab is being built — directly serving the NMM’s component-ecosystem goal.
Logistics & skilling: logistics cost is down to ~8–10% of GDP (NLP + Gati Shakti), and schemes like PM SETU aim to train one crore youth.
The reality check: despite all this, manufacturing’s GDP share is still ~17% — short of the 25% goal — and the NMM’s target year has effectively shifted to 2035 (NITI Aayog), with 143 million jobs and $1.2 trillion in exports envisaged.
Challenges That Remain
The 25% Gap
Manufacturing has stayed near 17% for years; the 25% target has repeatedly slipped (now 2035).
Shallow Value Addition
Much output is still assembly with imported components — deepening domestic value chains is the key test.
Jobs vs Output
Capital-intensive PLI sectors boost output more than mass employment — labour-intensive sectors need a push.
Global Headwinds
Tariff tensions, CBAM (carbon border tax), and supply-chain shifts test competitiveness.
Key Terms Explained
The jargon in this topic trips up many students. Here’s a quick, plain-English glossary of every key term used above:
| Term | What It Means (Simply) |
|---|---|
| PLI (Production-Linked Incentive) | A government scheme that pays companies a cash incentive linked to how much extra they produce/sell in India — rewarding actual output, not just promises to invest. Covers 14 sectors. |
| PM Gati Shakti | A national master plan (a digital GIS platform) that coordinates all infrastructure ministries — roads, rail, ports, power — so projects connect seamlessly and logistics costs fall. |
| Global Value Chain (GVC) | The international “assembly line” where different stages of making a product — design, components, final assembly — happen in different countries. “Integrating into GVCs” means doing more (and higher-value) stages in India. |
| Value Addition / Component Ecosystem | The share of a product’s value actually created in India rather than imported. A deep “component ecosystem” means we make the costly parts (chips, cells, motors) here, not just assemble them. |
| QCO (Quality Control Order) | A government order making BIS quality standards mandatory for specified products — it lifts the quality of Indian goods and blocks cheap, sub-standard imports. |
| MSME | Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises — firms classified by investment and turnover. They are the backbone of jobs and the largest employer after agriculture. |
| Anchor Player | A large, global “lead” company whose arrival pulls in a whole ecosystem of suppliers around it (e.g., a big phone maker drawing component makers to India). |
| Ease of Doing Business | How simple it is to start and run a business — fewer approvals, faster clearances, lighter compliance. A core “New Processes” pillar of Make in India. |
| Industrial Corridor | A planned belt of infrastructure (highways, rail, ports, industrial zones) linking manufacturing hubs — e.g., the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor. |
| Electrolyser | A device that uses electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen — the key equipment for producing green hydrogen. |
| Grid-Scale Battery | Very large batteries that store electricity for the power grid, helping balance variable solar and wind supply. |
| China + 1 | The strategy of global firms diversifying supply chains away from sole reliance on China — an opportunity India is courting. |
| CBAM (Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism) | An EU carbon tax on imports of carbon-intensive goods (steel, aluminium, etc.) — a looming challenge for Indian exporters. |
| National Manufacturing Policy (2011) | The earlier policy that first set the 25% manufacturing-GDP target — not to be confused with the new NMM (2025-26). |
Probable Prelims MCQs (Application-Based)
Q1. The four pillars of the “Make in India” initiative include which of the following?
2. New Infrastructure
3. New Mindset (government as facilitator)
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3 (plus New Sectors)
Show Answer
Q2. The National Manufacturing Mission was announced in:
(b) The Union Budget 2020-21
(c) The Union Budget 2025-26
(d) The National Manufacturing Policy 2011
Show Answer
Q3. “Quality Control Orders (QCOs),” promoted under the NMM, are intended to:
(b) Mandate quality standards for products to improve competitiveness
(c) Set minimum wages in factories
(d) Cap foreign investment in manufacturing
Show Answer
Q4. The NMM aims to deepen India’s domestic component ecosystem in clean-energy sectors. Which of the following is targeted?
2. EV batteries and electrolysers
3. Wind turbines and grid-scale batteries
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Show Answer
Mains Questions — PYQs & Probable
This is a high-yield Mains theme. Practise these — tap to reveal a structured answer-approach.
Q1 (PYQ, 2014, 15 marks). “Normally countries shift from agriculture to industry and then later to services, but India shifted directly from agriculture to services. What are the reasons for the huge growth of services vis-à-vis industry? Can India become a developed country without a strong industrial base?”
Show Approach
Q2 (PYQ, 2017, 15 marks). “Account for the failure of the manufacturing sector in achieving the goal of labour-intensive exports. Suggest measures for more labour-intensive rather than capital-intensive exports.”
Show Approach
Q3 (PYQ, 2023, 10 marks). “Faster economic growth requires an increased share of the manufacturing sector in GDP, particularly of MSMEs. Comment on the present policies of the Government in this regard.”
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Q4 (Probable, 15 marks). The National Manufacturing Mission seeks to revitalise “Make in India.” Critically examine its potential to make manufacturing a true engine of growth and employment.
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Q5 (Probable, 10 marks). Despite a decade of “Make in India,” the share of manufacturing in GDP has remained stagnant. Discuss the structural reasons and suggest a way forward.
Show Approach
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. What is the goal of Make in India?
Launched in 2014, it aims to make India a global manufacturing and design hub — raising manufacturing’s share of GDP to 25% and creating 100 million jobs, across 27 key sectors, built on four pillars (new processes, infrastructure, sectors, and mindset).
Q2. How is the National Manufacturing Mission different from Make in India?
Make in India is the broad vision; the NMM (Budget 2025-26) is the focused delivery mechanism. It creates an empowered implementation body, drives sector clusters, deploys PLIs, supports MSMEs, mandates quality (QCOs), and targets deeper integration into global value chains.
Q3. Has Make in India succeeded?
Partly. There are clear wins — PLI has drawn ₹2.16 lakh crore in investment and ~14.4 lakh jobs, and mobile-phone production rose ~28-fold (India is now a net exporter). But manufacturing’s GDP share is still ~17%, short of 25%, so the target has shifted to 2035 and the jobs challenge remains.
Q4. Why does “deepening the component ecosystem” matter?
Because India often only assembles products while importing high-value parts (chips, solar cells, EV battery cells). Making those components domestically captures more value, creates more jobs, reduces import dependence, and builds supply-chain resilience — the core of the NMM’s clean-tech push.
Key Takeaways
- Make in India (2014): a flagship to make India a manufacturing powerhouse — 25% of GDP, 100 million jobs, 27 sectors, four pillars (new processes, infrastructure, sectors, mindset).
- Vision needs delivery: its success hinges on targeted schemes — PLI and PM Gati Shakti.
- NMM (Budget 2025-26): an empowered body, sector clusters, PLIs, MSME support, QCOs, skilling, and a toy/clean-tech hub push — to deepen GVC integration.
- Impact goals: attract anchor players, deepen the domestic component ecosystem (solar cells, EV/grid batteries, electrolysers, wind turbines), boost exports, and build resilience.
- Latest data: PLI has drawn ₹2.16 lakh crore, created 14.4 lakh jobs, and lifted mobile production ~28-fold — but manufacturing is still ~17% of GDP, so the 25% goal now targets 2035.
