Jayantilal Bhandari
To make the country a global manufacturing hub, the provisions that have been ensured in the budget for the financial year 2022-23 must be implemented successfully and soon. It is also necessary that speedy work should be done on various schemes related to digital skill development and Skill India in the country.
Reports on the manufacturing sector have said that if India is to become the world’s major center in this sector, then the emphasis will have to be on finding strategic solutions to the challenges that exist for it. For this, five strategies are needed. First, rapid promotion of Make in India, Self-reliant India campaign and Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme in the country.
Second, bringing industries, companies and capital scattered from China to India. Third, emphasis on efforts to make India’s economy export-oriented. Fourthly, by making India’s Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and Quad Security Dialogue a success, to increase the industry-business rapidly and fifthly, by making skill development and skill India successful, the quality of labor and new work culture is an integral part of production. make.
It is noteworthy that at present the demand for products made in India is increasing all over the world. In the self-reliant India campaign, twenty four sectors under manufacturing are being scaled up on priority basis. As many other industries like pharmaceutical, mobile, medical device, vehicle and power tool industries in the country still depend on imported raw materials from China.
In such a situation, in the last one and a half years, the government has ensured incentives with allocation of about two lakh crore rupees to thirteen industries under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme to create an alternative to China’s raw materials. Now some of the country’s producers are succeeding in making substitutes for raw materials from China. Under the PLI scheme, in the next five years, goods worth five hundred and twenty billion dollars i.e. about forty lakh crore rupees will be produced in the country.
Since imports of defense goods and equipment are heavily spent in the country’s total imports. Therefore, work is going on at a rapid pace to increase self-reliance and exports in the defense sector in the country. It is worth mentioning in this context that the Ministry of Defense has released a list of three hundred and ten major defense equipment to be manufactured locally from August 21, 2020 to April 7, 2022. Apart from this, after the challenges of Corona, India’s pharmaceutical industry is increasing production and exporting medicines to more than two hundred countries of the world. In such a situation, India is also being seen as a new and big drug production center of the world.
It is also important that due to the increased global resentment towards China over COVID-19, many foreign companies withdrew their business from China. Here, for the last few months, production has come to a standstill in many industrial cities due to the increase in cases of corona again in China. This disaster of China has emerged as a big opportunity for India.
Opportunities for manufacturing, investment and exports coming out of China have started coming towards India. Undoubtedly, after the self-reliant India campaign launched in March 2020, the industries of the country have got an opportunity to grow rapidly. In such a situation, it is believed that India can overtake China in manufacturing. India will be able to make the best quality low cost products in the world and the more sales the manufacturing industries make, the more jobs will be created in the economy.
India’s export based economy is playing an effective role in making the country a manufacturing hub. India’s product exports reaching a historic level of $ 419.65 billion and services exports of $ 249.24 billion in the last financial year 2021-22 amid the challenges of COVID-19 and Ukraine crisis is an indication that India is now moving towards an export based economy. Used to be. As India’s exports are increasing, the manufacturing sector is also getting opportunities for growth.
It is also important that the quadruple of America, India, Japan and Australia can also prove to be a milestone in the development of India’s industry-business. This will also give a big base to make India a manufacturing hub. Along with this, the three-pronged strategy that India is following for the expansion of industry business, will also strengthen the possibilities of becoming a major center of manufacturing.
These three important dimensions are – participating in trade agreements of organizations like the Nordic countries while keeping away from trade agreements dominated by China, BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technological and Economic Cooperation), a regional organization of countries sidelining Pakistan. and move towards free trade agreements (FTAs).
India has embodied FTAs with UAE and Australia. Progressive negotiations for FTAs with the European Union, the UK, Canada, the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, South Africa, the US and Israel are now showing signs of a good future.
There is no doubt that under the Union Budget for the year 2022-23, the new concept of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and new export incentives have given impetus to the efforts to make the country a major manufacturing hub. The basic goal of SEZ has been to promote exports, but SEZs could not contribute as per the target.
In such a situation, under the new concept of SEZ from this year 2022, the government has talked about giving special facilities to the producers and exporters. The vacant land in the SEZ can be used for domestic and export manufacturing. The SEZ will have the facility of Customs and Excise clearance through full time portal. All the necessary approvals to start production will also be available there.
States will also be involved in this process. With the increase in infrastructure, especially in the supply chain, the cost of production will be reduced and Indian goods will be able to compete easily in the international market. With the network of facilities like rail, road, port, Indian cost will be of global level. Establishment of new ventures will also be encouraged under the ‘plug and play model’ brought in to attract investment under SEZs. Under the plug and play system, industries will get basic facilities like electricity, water and roads and industries will be able to start production directly.
It is also worth mentioning that in order to make the country a global hub of manufacturing, it is necessary to implement the provisions that have been ensured in the budget for the financial year 2022-23, successfully and soon. It is also necessary that speedy work should be done on various schemes related to digital skill development and Skill India in the country.
In order to realize the potential of becoming a global hub of manufacturing, it is necessary that emphasis should be laid on making self-reliant India campaign and Make in India a success. Apart from this, there is a need to reduce product cost, focus on research and innovation to enhance the quality of indigenous products, further simplification of laws, accelerate digitization of the economy, reduce supply chain costs and equip manpower with digital skills. also needed.