On September 25, Make in India, an ambitious initiative launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi completed its twelve years. Since its inception, the programme has improved the manufacturing landscape of the country, especially the investment and capabilities across different industries: “More made in India. More investment in India. More exports from India. A transformation visible across sectors ,” the prime minister tweeted.
As per official estimates, output has expanded in different sectors especially in electronics, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, steel, railways and defence. While the country has steadily advanced its infrastructural capacities to make components, machinery, strategic materials and advanced technologies.
Notable mentions that have enabled this growth – NSWS, PLI, PM GatiShakti and the India Industrial Land Bank. Besides the new schemes on semiconductors, mobile phones, industrial parks, specialty steel and rare-earth magnets have further strengthened this growth.
How it began a decade ago
In 2014, the programme started with an ambition to make the country a global hub for manufacturing, design and innovation. Guided by the three main components: “easier investment, a culture of innovation and world-class infrastructure”.
The core principle remains – “Minimum Government, Maximum Governance”, it also sought to modernise processes and policies. Within a decade, the programme has evolved into Make in India 2.0, which covers 27 sectors, 15 in manufacturing and 12 in services.
The growing numbers showcase the path towards exponential rise. Manufacturing Gross Value Added at constant prices grew at a compound annual rate of 10.88% between 2022-23 and 2025-26 under the revised national accounts series.
The manufacturing component of the Index of Industrial Production also rose to 7.0% in April-July 2026 compared with the previous year.
Meanwhile, in the vertical of electronics production grew sevenfold. From about INR 1.9 lakh crore in 2015 to about INR 13.11 lakh crore in 2026. Similarly, the mobile-phone output increased roughly 32-fold, making India the world’s second-largest mobile phone manufacturer by volume.
In terms of automobiles, the sector reached 31.03 million vehicles in 2025, about 33% above the 2015 level. If these figures are compared with 2021 numbers, passenger and commercial vehicle production each grew 65%, three-wheelers 71% and two-wheelers 30%.
Currently, India stands at the 3rd rank globally by volume and 11th by value in the sector of pharmaceuticals (with annual turnover of INR 5,08,630 crore in 2025-26 and exports of INR 2,62,697 crore).
In the span of five years, from 2020 to 2025 domestic medical device manufacturing grew about 48%.
Steel output doubled from 81.7 million tonnes in 2015 to 170.0 million tonnes in 2026.
Railways raised average annual coach production from under 3,300 in the period of 2004-2014 to 5,481 in 2014-2024, and built 1,674 locomotives in 2026.
Defence production climbed about 283% from INR 46,429 crore to a record INR 1.78 lakh crore, nearly four times its 2015 level. Amidst all these figures, the more significant shift is that India now makes not only finished goods but also the inputs behind them.
In the field of pharmaceuticals, the country manufactures complex products including the world’s first biosimilar antibody-drug conjugate for breast cancer and the world’s first anti-rabies monoclonal antibody combination.
In strategic technologies, ISRO and SCL developed the VIKRAM 3201 and KALPANA 3201 microprocessors for space applications. Solar module capacity grew from 2.3 GW in 2014 to 192 GW by June 2026, and solar-cell capacity from 1.2 GW to about 30 GW.
HAL has expanded Tejas Mk1A production to 24 aircraft a year, and the Nuclear Fuel Complex has domestically supplied steam-generator tubes for upcoming 700 MW reactors. A pilot plant for rare-earth permanent magnets, essential for electric vehicles and renewable energy, was set up in Hyderabad in March 2026.
Capital goods, the machinery that makes other goods, nearly doubled in output from INR 2,87,233 crore in 2019-20 to INR 5,69,900 crore in 2024-25.
Earthmoving and mining machinery grew 160%, printing machinery 134% and machine tools 132%.
This growth has been possible owing to the vision, policy and official execution that worked alongside production.
India permits 100% FDI through the automatic route in most sectors, and cumulative FDI reached USD 843 billion between 2014-15 and 2025-26.
Future in Manufacturing Sector
The National Single Window System offers access to over 327 Central and 3,452 State approvals, and the India Industrial Land Bank has mapped 4,220 industrial parks covering about 6.98 lakh hectares.
PM GatiShakti has helped coordinate infrastructure planning, with its Network Planning Group evaluating 396 projects worth about INR 18.66 lakh crore. The PLI schemes, spanning 14 sectors, have drawn INR 2.6 lakh crore in investment, generated INR 23.8 lakh crore in production and sales, and created 14.6 lakh jobs.
Recent initiatives target gaps in the value chain. They include a third round of the specialty steel PLI, INR 7,280 crore for sintered rare-earth magnet capacity, and INR 33,660 crore under BHAVYA for 100 investment-ready industrial parks.
The Mobile Phone Manufacturing Scheme commits INR 62,500 crore, Semicon 2.0 allocates INR 1,27,500 crore across the semiconductor ecosystem, and BHAVYA Rasayan sets aside INR 3,030 crore for three chemical parks.
The Made in India programme has moved beyond the goal of producing more. Today its focus is on building the skills, technology and capacity needed to make India produce its products including chips and magnets to machine tools and medicines.
Courtesy: PIB SRINAGAR
