12 Years of Make in India: India’s Manufacturing Journey, Key Achievements and New Initiatives

On 25th of September, 2014, the Make in India campaign was initiated in an attempt to transform the India into a manufacturing and innovation powerhouse at the international level. 12 years after its launch, Make in India has evolved from being an effort to enhance the investment environment to an endeavor to enhance domestic manufacturing capacity of final goods, parts, machinery, and strategic technologies. Make in India 2.0 now comprises 27 sectors out of which 15 are manufacturing while 12 are service-oriented.

Make in India: From Investment Promotion to Manufacturing Capacity Building

The Make in India project was centered on investment promotion, innovation support, and the creation of world-class infrastructure. The governance approach adopted by Make in India had a connection with the idea of “Minimum Government, Maximum Governance”.

It has since been expanded to Make in India 2.0, expanding its coverage beyond sectors.

According to the government, the manufacturing gross value added at constant prices has been growing at a CAGR of 10.88% between 2022-23 and 2025-26 on the revised national accounts. Manufacturing sub-index of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) grew by 7.0% in April-July 2026 over April-July 2025.

Production of Automobiles, Pharmaceuticals & Medical Devices, and Steel

Rise in manufacturing has also been experienced in traditional industrial sectors.

Automobiles

The production of automobiles was 31.03 million units in 2024-25, which is 33% more than in 2014-15.

As compared to 2020-21, the production during 2024-25 has risen by,

• 65% in case of passenger and commercial vehicles
• 71% in case of three-wheelers
• 30% in case of two-wheelers

Production of Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices

• India’s pharmaceutical industry holds third position in terms of quantity and 11th in terms of value in the world. The turnover of this industry is ₹4,71,898 crore in 2024-25 with 9.5% CAGR from 2020-21.
• The production of domestic medical devices has gone up from ₹28,000 crore in 2019-20 to ₹41,500 crore in 2024-25.

Steel

• The crude steel production rose from 81.7 million tonnes in 2014-15 to 170.0 million tonnes in 2025-26.

Manufacturing in Defence and Railways

Manufacturing capacity has also grown in the strategically important sectors.

The amount of indigenous production of defence equipment grew from ₹46,429 crore in 2014–15 to a new high of ₹1.78 lakh crore in FY 2025–26. As per the government, this was an increase of around 283% to more than four times the level in 2014–15.

Indian Railways built 54,809 coaches between 2014 and 2024, whereas the average annual production of coaches increased from under 3,300 between 2004 and 2014 to 5,481 between 2014 and 2024.

The Indian Railways built the following in 2025-26,

• 1,674 locomotives
• 6,677 LHB coaches

LHB means Linke Hofmann Busch. These coaches are made to be lighter and safer and enhance passenger comfort.

Technologies and Components

The focus on manufacturing is gradually expanding to include components and technology systems.

Semiconductor Technology for Space

ISRO and Semiconductor Laboratory (SCL) have developed the VIKRAM3201 and KALPANA3201 microprocessors for use in space.

VIKRAM3201 is said to be the first “fully Make in India” microprocessor capable of operating under the challenging environment of launch vehicles. KALPANA3201 has been created to operate in conjunction with open source software tools and has been tested for flight software.

Rare-Earth Permanent Magnets

A pilot plant for Nd-Fe-B (Neodymium-Iron-Boron) rare-earth permanent magnets was set up at ARCI, Hyderabad, in March 2026.

These magnets can be used in,

• Electric vehicles
• Renewable energy
• Electronics
• Manufacturing

Electric Vehicles and Aircrafts

An indigenous 30 kW drive system, which combines the motor and inverter, was launched in March 2026. It was designed, manufactured and validated for commercialization.

On the other hand, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) commissioned its third LCA Tejas Mk1A production assembly line in October 2025, raising the total production capacity to 24 aircraft per year. Another production line for HTT-40 trainer-aircraft was also launched.

Capital Goods: Production of Machinery for Production

One of the essential components of the industrial capacity of India is its production of capital goods and heavy engineering equipment—the machinery that manufactures other goods.

Production in the subsectors for the above-listed capital goods and heavy engineering has grown from ₹2,87,233 crore in 2019–20 to ₹5,69,900 crore in 2024–25. The list includes subsectors such as machine tools, mining machinery, heavy electrical equipment, food processing machinery, and process-plant equipment.

in percentage terms

The data provided by the Ministry of Heavy Industries clearly shows the growth from ₹2,87,233 crore to ₹5,69,900 crore.

Reform Measures Benefitting Make in India

Manufacturing strategy under Make in India has been bolstered by investment facilitation, industrial infrastructure, and production linked incentives.

FDI Policy of India

• FDI of up to 100 percent via the automatic route is allowed in all sectors barring a few, depending on specific sectoral conditions and exclusions. Cumulative FDI from 2014-15 to 2025-26 has been worth USD 843 billion, as per government data.

National Single Window System

• The NSWS provides an online portal where firms are able to seek government clearances.
• Till September 2026, it enabled more than 327 Central clearances and 3,452 State clearances in 34 states/Union Territories. More than 5.69 lakh business firms have been on-boarded in the system till now.

India Industrial Land Bank

• GIS based India Industrial Land Bank (IILB) helps provide information about industrial land and industrial parks.
• Till May 2026, the portal has mapped 4,220 industrial parks covering around 6.98 lakh hectares of land.

PM GatiShakti

• The PM GatiShakti National Master Plan, introduced in October 2021, makes use of geospatial data, satellite imagery, and API-based integration for coordinated infrastructure planning.
• As of 11 August 2026, it had evaluated 396 projects that are worth an estimated ₹18.66 lakh crore under its Network Planning Group. Out of these, 256 projects were sanctioned, of which 198 were already under implementation.

Production Linked Incentive Scheme and Startup India

Under the Production Linked Incentive schemes, there are incentives that are based on incremental production and sales in 14 sectors.

As of June 2026, the schemes had,

• Generated ₹2.40 lakh crore investment
• Produced and sold more than ₹22.66 lakh crore worth of goods
• Exported more than ₹15.20 lakh crore worth of goods
• Created more than 14 lakh jobs

The covered sectors are electronics, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, solar PV modules, specialty steel, and textiles.

The Startup India programme, which was started in the month of January 2016, aims at nurturing innovation and development of the startup sector in India. By September 2026, 2.54 lakh entities had been designated as startups under this initiative.

Manufacturing Initiatives in 2025-26

Current policy interventions have also widened the manufacturing scope to the industrial parks, rare earth materials, mobile phone manufacturing, semiconductor production, specialized steel and chemicals manufacturing.

The above-mentioned manufacturing initiatives reflect the need for deeper domestic value addition and strategic material manufacturing and production.