Accurate & Prompt Execution of Policies will Help 'Make In India' become a Grand Success

Launched in 2014, the “Make in India” campaign heralded a new era in India in terms of boosting manufacturing growth and catalyzing India’s industrial growth.To accomplish all this there was a renewed focus on job creation, skill enhancement and improved quality standards – all of which would serve to attract capital and technological investment in India. As per a study commissioned by Power2SME in association with Greyhound, it was found that ‘manufacturing SMEs can absorb our country’s next 1 million workforce’ and India will become a manufacturing hub,making our economy more investment-friendly, fairer and transparent, globally. In an exclusive interaction, Sumit Bhatia, Sr. Vice President – Business Operations, Power2SME expressed his views exclusively with SMEStreet on ‘Make in India’ campaign by highlighting opportunities that are emerging from this for the manufacturing sector.

While discussing the opportunities for Manufacturing MSMEs from this mega campaign, Mr Bhatia mentioned:

Largely centered on the manufacturing sector, the inherent opportunities that India’s economy is equipped with – large labor pool, proactive government continued thrust on reforms, allowance of FDI in ecommerce space and the immense market and consequent demand – provide an ideal backdrop for the campaign’s implementation. The ‘Make in India’ initiative would require free flow of raw materials for finished goods, and manufacturing MSMEs can play a huge role in making this vision a reality. It is critical that the recent policy announcements are translated into the value chain requirements. For example, we need to translate the proposed 100 smart cities announcement into the requirements of raw materials, equipment and finished products that it will throw up.

Touted to be the force that could catalyze India’s economic growth, and place it on the global map as truly a force to be reckoned with – a great deal more remains to be done to fully leverage it. One of the most noteworthy features of the campaign has been its attempts to promote “ease of doing business” – significantly boosting the entrepreneurial spirit. The most significant among this, was the implementation of the Aadhar UID card for registration. Additionally, the increased infrastructural support in the form of incubation cells for research, simplified regulatory compliances; tax sops etc. too have been beneficial.

And, examining the industry roadblocks and expressing how these roadblocks can be addressed, he stated:

Despite of this, there are various challenges that impede the success of the campaign. For instance, the problem of inadequate funding and bad loans – which necessitate a whole host of banking reforms. Next, is the challenge of poorly skilled labor. The government’s Economic Survey said last year that the skilled workforce in India is counted at a mere 2% - underscoring the need for imparting training to workers engaged in industries. Another challenge is the absence of research & development - a necessary prerequisite to innovation and consequently industry.

Although,the campaign has already showed results in the form of a significant change in India’s global rankings, stronger steps to address these challenges need to be taken.

Representing an innovative organization Power2SME which is focused towards the Manufacturing SMEs of India, Mr Bhatia shared an overall observation on the impact of ‘Make in India’ campaign by adding the following:

Implementation of the existing policies in the right direction will be essential to secure the overall growth of the sector and consequently the country’s economy. However, the success completely depends on the strict policy actions in implementation for SMEs (just as in case of PPP) and effective mentoring of the SMEs to understand the policy and correctively make use of it in their business.

With continued focus on the Make in India Campaign and other initiatives taken by the Government to boost the potential of manufacturing industry and to catalyze economic progress - the targets laid down by the World Bank to remain the fastest growing economy in 2016 seems achievable.