Make in India turns 12 with manufacturing investment and exports rising

MUMBAI: Twelve years on, Make in India is still putting the ‘made’ in made-in-India, with the government pointing to higher manufacturing output, investment and exports as the initiative enters its 13th year. Marking 12 years of the programme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Make in India had resulted in “more made in India, more investment in India and more exports from India”, while also highlighting the infrastructure, enterprise and innovation being built around the initiative.

Launched on September 25, 2014, Make in India was designed to position India as a global hub for manufacturing, design and innovation. The programme has since expanded through Make in India 2.0, which now covers 27 sectors, comprising 15 manufacturing and 12 services sectors.

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, marking the anniversary, pointed to the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes as one of the key drivers of the manufacturing push.

As of March 31, 2026, PLI schemes had attracted Rs 2.40 lakh crore in actual investment, generating Rs 23.8 lakh crore in production and sales and Rs 15.2 lakh crore in exports. The schemes had also created more than 14.6 lakh direct and indirect jobs, according to figures cited by Goyal.

The government’s latest data, meanwhile, puts production and sales under the PLI schemes at more than Rs 22.66 lakh crore, with exports crossing Rs 15.20 lakh crore as of June 2026. The schemes cover 14 sectors, including electronics, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, solar PV modules, speciality steel and textiles.

Goyal said electronics and telecom, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, automobiles, IT hardware and speciality steel have recorded significant gains under the programme.

The investment story has also picked up pace. India recorded its highest-ever annual foreign direct investment inflow of $94.53 billion in FY2025-26, according to figures highlighted by Goyal.

Cumulative FDI inflows between FY2014-15 and FY2025-26 stood at $843 billion.

The government has linked the investment push to infrastructure and business facilitation measures including the National Single Window System, industrial corridors, the India Industrial Land Bank and PM GatiShakti.

The National Single Window System currently provides access to more than 327 central and 3,452 state approvals. The India Industrial Land Bank has mapped 4,220 industrial parks spanning around 6.98 lakh hectares, according to the latest government backgrounder.

Electronics has emerged as one of the clearest markers of the manufacturing expansion. Production in the sector rose from around Rs 1.9 lakh crore in FY2014-15 to Rs 13.11 lakh crore in FY2025-26.

Mobile phone production recorded an even sharper rise, climbing from approximately Rs 18,000 crore to Rs 6.27 lakh crore over the same period.

Manufacturing gross value added recorded a compound annual growth rate of 10.88 per cent between FY2022-23 and FY2025-26, while the manufacturing component of the Index of Industrial Production grew 7 per cent year-on-year during April-July 2026.

The digital commerce layer has also expanded alongside manufacturing. Goyal highlighted the Open Network for Digital Commerce, saying more than 470 crore orders had been placed through ONDC, which the government says has helped give smaller enterprises greater access to digital commerce.

The next phase of Make in India is being positioned around moving deeper into the manufacturing value chain, with a focus on components, strategic materials and advanced technologies. Newer initiatives span semiconductors, mobile phones, industrial parks, speciality steel and rare-earth magnets.

For an initiative that began with a lion as its symbol, the government’s latest numbers suggest the bigger story is now in the supply chain — from investment and production to exports and the components that make the whole machine move.