In September 2014, Prime Minister of India, Mr. Narendra Modi launched the ‘Make in India’ initiative as part of a wider set of initiatives devised to transform India into a global design and manufacturing hub. Its aim is to raise the contribution of the manufacturing sector to 25 per cent of GDP by 2020. To help achieve this goal, the Government of India subsequently expanded the sectors available for foreign direct investment, including: defence, railways and aerospace. See more here: http://www.makeinindia.com/policy/national-manufacturing

Make in India is linked to the National Manufacturing Policy (NMP) that was announced in 2011 (ie by the previous government). One of the objectives of the NMP is to increase domestic value addition and technological depth in manufacturing. See more: http://dipp.nic.in/sites/default/files/po-ann4.pdf

Buy in India (or procure in India) is an extension of Make in India. Since one of the purposes of Make in India is to promote local manufacturing in India, it is not surprising that the Indian government would encourage companies to purchase their inputs, raw materials or intermediate products in India by developing their supply chains in India. 

In June 2017, the Government of India published a Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017, which specified measures to promote local suppliers in public procurement including a minimum 50 percent local content in total value of items procured by government entities. See more here http://dipp.nic.in/whats-new/public-procurement-preference-make-india-order-2017. 

By the time the above-mentioned order was published, preference policies were in place in particular areas and sectors. The sectors and areas, and links on which the relevant policies can be found are mentioned below

• Solar energy – see more here http://mnre.gov.in/file-manager/UserFiles/strategic_plan_mnre_2011_17.pdf

• Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises – http://dcmsme.gov.in/notification.pdf

• Telecom & electronics – http://dot.gov.in/pma-policy; http://www.meity.gov.in/esdm/pma

• Oil & Gas – http://petroleum.nic.in/sites/default/files/pplc.pdf

• Steel – http://steel.gov.in/sites/default/files/Ministry%20of%20Steel%20Policy%202017-Final-20.06.2017_0.pdf

Since most of these policies are fairly recent or have been updated a few times since they were published the first time (such as the policy for telecom & electronics), the impact of these policies on the manufacturing capability of the country is uncertain.

The National Solar Mission – the relevant policy for the solar energy sector has been the subject of the WTO dispute. India has lost the case. The appellate body decision on this is found here: https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/456abr_e.pdf 

© photo and writing: Sanchita Chatterjee 2017