Creating jobs

Can ‘Make in India’ deliver jobs?

The Centre is working on a ‘compliance report” of its flagship ‘Make In India’ (MII) initiative that attempts to transform India into a global design and manufacturing hub as well as generate large-scale employment. The objective of the exercise is also to find out whether the government departments and agencies implementing the MII programme are meeting the deadlines envisaged in the ‘MII Action Plan’ of December 2014.

What does MII Focus on?

The MII initiative covers 25 focus sectors ranging from automobiles to wellness. At a national workshop held in December 2014 on these 25 sectors, an Action Plan was finalised with the help of Secretaries to the Indian Government as well as industry leaders.

The ‘MII Action Plan’ had set short-term (one year) and medium-term (three years) targets “to boost investments in the 25 sectors” and to “raise the contribution of the manufacturing sector to 25% of the GDP by 2020.”

What is the Manufacturing Status on India?

As per the National Manufacturing Policy, the share of manufacturing in India’s GDP has stagnated at 15%-16% since 1980 while the share of comparable economies in Asia is much higher at 25%-34%. According to the India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), “India’s manufacturing sector has the potential to touch $1 trillion by 2025. There is potential for the sector to account for 25-30% of the country’s GDP and create up to 90 million domestic jobs by 2025.”

Assessment

The manufacturing sector has grown only by an average of 1.6% in the last five years till 2015-16. Appropriate measures should be taken to revive the growth. But, the question of how technology is reshaping the jobs market has to be answered. We are entering an era of jobless growth. Industry 4.0, automation capabilities and artificial intelligence are improving at a rate that prompts studies to show that, by the year 2025, close of 69% of the jobs could be automated effectively. Upskilling the population would be task that should be factored in to truly achieve the benefits of ‘Make in India’.