The Make in India initiative is a major national program and campaign of the Government of India designed to transform the country into a global design and manufacturing hub. It was formally launched on September 25, 2014, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and is led by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The program originated as a necessary response to a critical economic situation in 2013, when India’s growth rate had fallen to its lowest level in a decade, and the country was tagged as one of the 'Fragile Five'. The core problem it aimed to solve was the need to revive the stagnating economy and shift from a service-led model to one where manufacturing plays a central role.
The initiative works on four pillars: New Processes, New Infrastructure, New Sectors, and New Mindset. Key mechanisms include streamlining regulations to improve the Ease of Doing Business, which saw India's rank climb from 142nd in 2014 to 63rd in the 2020 World Bank report. A central provision is the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme, which offers incentives on incremental production across 14 key sectors to attract large-scale investment and boost domestic manufacturing. The initiative connects to a broader ecosystem of government schemes, including Atmanirbhar Bharat, Skill India, Startup India, and infrastructure programs like PM GatiShakti.
The program has evolved into Make in India 2.0, which focuses on 27 sectors (15 manufacturing and 12 service sectors), marking a shift from broad promotion to a targeted, incentive-driven policy. While the original goal of increasing manufacturing's share of GDP to 25% by 2022 was later revised to 2025, the focus on liberalizing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policies and simplifying procedures, such as through the Goods and Services Tax (GST), remains consistent.