Inaugurating the Make in India week in Mumbai today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called upon the world to manufacture in India.

“This century is Asia’s century. Make India your centre if you want this century  to be your century.  I invite everyone sitting here, and also those not here, to be a part of India’s unfolding story. This is the best time ever to be in India, and it is even better to Make in India,” he said. 

Addressing the audience which included the prime ministers of Sweden and Finland, the first deputy prime minister of Poland, dignitaries from other countries and a large number of captains of industry from India and abroad, he pointed out that the government is aggressively taking steps towards making India a global manufacturing hub and called for 'zero defect  and zero effect manufacturing.'

“We want the share of manufacturing in our GDP to go up to 25 percent  in the near future. We want to present to the world the enormous opportunities that India offers as a base for manufacturing, design, research and development.  

“India has become the fastest growing large economy in the world. We will end this fiscal year with well over seven percent  growth in GDP. The IMF, World Bank, OECD, ADB and other institutions have projected even better growth in the coming days. In 2014-15, India contributed 12.5 percent of global growth. Its contribution to global growth is 68 percent higher than its share of the world economy,” added PM Modi.

Prime minister Modi said the momentum of the Make in India campaign has motivated the government to make its policies and processes easier and friendlier. “I invite and encourage you to make India your workplace and also your home.”

The government is keen to scale up investments in next-generation infrastructure including roads, ports, railways, airports, telecom, digital networks and clean energy.

Accelerating manufacturing growth
The Make In India campaign has help accelerate manufacturing growth in the country. When it began in mid-2014, manufacturing growth was 1.7 percent. Since then, it has improved substantially and manufacturing growth is expected be around 12.6 percent. The composite PMI output index has climbed to an 11-month high of 53.3 percent  in January 2016 and the total number of investment proposals during the last eight months is higher by 27 percent. In 2015, the Indian automobile industry recorded its highest ever production of vehicles and software exports were also the best ever.

Modi summed up: “This (Make In India) campaign has the capacity to boost the Indian economy  and also brighten  the global scenario.”

Photographs courtesy: Press Information Bureau