Make in India!

A long due initiative that should have been taken years ago by the government of India is “Make in India”. Maybe the previous government  wasn’t that smarter, Thanks to the PM of India Narendra Modi, The ‘Make in India’ dream is going to be true. This campaign was designed by Wieden and Kennedy, and American advertising agency best known for its work for “NIKE”.

“Make in India” is a major new national program to facilitate investment, foster innovation, enhance skill development, protect intellectual property and build best in class manufacturing infrastructure. The objective behind this initiative is to transform India into a manufacturing hub just like china thereby creating jobs for people. With China’s economy slowing down because the country’s enormous manufacturing sector is declining, this is the right time for India transform itself into a manufacturing hub. The focus is on 25 sectors of the economy, some of the sectors are: automobiles, smartphones, IT, bio-technology, chemicals, leather, wellness etc.

This initiative hopes to increase GDP growth and attract investment in India. In August 2014, the Cabinet of India allowed 49% foreign direct investment ( FDI ) in the defence sector and 100% in railways infrastructure. The defence sector previously allowed 26% FDI and FDI was not allowed in railways. This was in hope of bringing down the military imports of India. Earlier, one Indian company would have held the 51% stake, this was changed so that multiple companies could hold the 51%. Out of 25 sectors, except Space(74%), Defence(49%) and News Media(26%), 100% FDI is allowed in rest of sectors. Between September 2014 and August 2015, the government received Rs 1.10 lakh crore (US$17 billion) worth of proposals from companies interested in manufacturing electronics in India. 24.8% of smartphones shipped in the country in the April-June quarter of 2015 were made in India, up from 19.9% the previous quarter.

Recent news related to this campaign is that the major licensed manufacturer “Foxconn” decided to invest in India and set up multiple manufacturing units in India. Foxconn is a major manufacturer for brands such as Apple, Sony, Blackberry, Wii etc. And recently Xiaomi began initial talks with the Andhra Pradesh government to begin manufacturing smartphones at a Foxconn run facility in Sri City.

This initiative is certainly attracting huge investments in India, this is a huge opportunity for India and the investors as well. I can’t even imagine the number of jobs it will create for the country.

There is just one small thing that should be addressed, which is that if this campaign is to be promoted, the “Make in India” website should be designed more professionally, It is not upto the mark. If PM Narendra Modi is looking to attract huge investors and businesses to manufacture in India, then their official website should be attractive and catchy.

Let’s “Make in India” then. For more information log on to:
http://www.makeinindia.com/