Make in India at 12: limited impact on growth, jobs, exports

Twelve years after Make in India was launched on September 25, 2014, an analysis of 12 metrics shows manufacturing's share in growth, employment and global exports has remained largely unchanged. Non-petroleum goods exports grew 53% to $388.3 billion in 2025-26 from $253.5 billion, but India's share in global merchandise exports stayed at 1.7%. The 14 PLI schemes drew Rs 2.4 lakh crore in investment, with five sectors accounting for nearly 83%. Manufacturing employment rose from 5.1 crore to 5.3 crore.

Written by AI from The Hindu — Business · not yet reviewed by an editor · Published 25 Sept 2026, 6:42 am IST

Source

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#make in india#manufacturing#exports#employment#pli scheme

Desk check · compared with the source

What the desk checked (5)

Non-petroleum goods exports rose 53% to $388.3 billion in 2025-26 from $253.5 billion in 2014. — Figures appear in source; attributed to trade data, no specific ministry cited.
India's share in global merchandise exports was 1.7% in 2013 and remained the same in 2025-26. — Attributed in source to UNCTAD data.
14 PLI schemes drew cumulative investment of Rs 2.4 lakh crore as of March 2026, with top five sectors accounting for nearly 83%. — Figures appear in source, presented as government scheme data.
Manufacturing employment grew from 5.1 crore in 2016-17 to 5.3 crore in 2025-26. — Attributed to CMIE data sourced from the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
Manufacturing GVA share rose marginally from 14.6% in 2022-23 to 15.6% in 2025-26 under the new series. — Figure appears in source, based on GVA series comparison.

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Analysts’ view opinion

AI Economic Analyst

Twelve years of 'Make in India' tell a consistent story: output has grown, but manufacturing's share of the economy has not. Incentive schemes like PLI have pulled in investment in a few sectors, yet the metrics that reflect the "development and growth-oriented environment" the campaign itself invoked — private capex, capacity utilisation, share of global exports — remain soft. The data suggest subsidies can lift headline numbers, but the broad, job-rich manufacturing boom has yet to arrive.

Non-petroleum exports up 53% while India's share of global merchandise exports stayed at 1.7% means India grew with world trade rather than faster than it.
With 83% of the Rs 2.4 lakh crore of PLI investment concentrated in five sectors, the gains have flowed to capital-intensive industries rather than labour-intensive ones.
Manufacturing jobs rising from 5.1 crore to 5.3 crore, with the sector's employment share flat over a decade, is not a labour-market transformation — a key question given the public money deployed.
A falling private GFCF-to-GDP ratio and capacity utilisation still below the 80% threshold suggest firms do not yet see the demand signal needed to build new plants.
Strong MSME credit growth without matching output growth supports the expert reading that borrowing is funding working capital, not fresh capacity.

What to watch — Watch whether capacity utilisation crosses 80% and private GFCF turns up in coming quarters — that would be the first real sign of a shift from incentive-led output to a self-sustaining investment cycle.

The story maps trends across 12 metrics but does not separate out shocks such as the pandemic, trade tensions or global slowdowns, so it does not establish that policy caused these outcomes.

Deep dive

Research brief · 8 facts · 10 dates · exam-ready

The brief

Context

Make in India was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 25, 2014 to raise manufacturing's weight in the Indian economy, exports and jobs. Twelve years on, an analysis of 12 metrics covering growth, investment, employment and exports finds manufacturing's share in GVA, total employment and global exports broadly unchanged. The limited gains that exist are concentrated in a handful of sectors covered by the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes launched in 2020-21. At launch, Modi had argued that industrialists come not for "some fancy incentive scheme" but for a "development and growth-oriented environment" — yet the data show incentive schemes are where the modest success lies, while broader environment metrics underperform.

Key facts

Make in India was launched on September 25, 2014; the review covers 12 metrics across growth, investment, employment and exports.
Non-petroleum goods exports rose 53% to $388.3 billion in 2025-26 from $253.5 billion in 2014-15; in the previous 12 years they had grown over 400% on a smaller base.
UNCTAD data: India's share in global merchandise exports rose from about 0.8% in 2002 to 1.7% in 2013, and stayed at 1.7% in 2025-26.
Manufacturing's share in GVA under the new series rose only marginally, from 14.6% in 2022-23 to 15.6% in 2025-26; the old series shows a lower share in 2025-26 than in 2014.
The 14 PLI schemes, launched across 2020 and 2021, drew cumulative investment of Rs 2.4 lakh crore as of March 2026.
Top five PLI sectors — solar modules, pharma drugs, automobiles and components, specialty steel, large-scale electronics — account for nearly 83% of PLI investment.
PLI schemes employ 8.5 lakh people, with over 86% in five sectors; the government claims 5.7 lakh additional indirect jobs in electronics, IT hardware and solar modules.
CMIE data from the Labour Ministry: manufacturing employment grew from 5.1 crore in 2016-17 to 5.3 crore in 2025-26, with its share in total employment largely unchanged.

Timeline

2002India's share in global merchandise exports was around 0.8% (UNCTAD).
2013India's share in global merchandise exports reaches 1.7%.
September 25, 2014Make in India campaign launched; PM Modi stresses a 'development and growth-oriented environment' over 'fancy incentive schemes'.
2014-15Non-petroleum goods exports at $253.5 billion; manufacturing's share in overall FDI at nearly 48%.
2016-17Manufacturing sector employment at 5.1 crore (CMIE/Labour Ministry data).
2020 and 202114 Production-Linked Incentive schemes launched across sectors.
2022-23Manufacturing's share in GVA at 14.6% (new series); GFCF as % of GDP begins falling.
2023-24Latest year of old-series data: private sector GFCF share of GDP lower than in 2014-15.
March 2026Cumulative PLI investment stands at Rs 2.4 lakh crore.
2025-26Non-petroleum exports $388.3 billion; GVA share 15.6%; global export share 1.7%; manufacturing employment 5.3 crore; manufacturing FDI share 55%.

Who has a stake

Union Government / Ministry of Commerce and Industry — Owns Make in India and the PLI schemes; its flagship manufacturing push is judged on growth, jobs and export share outcomes.
Private sector industry — Private GFCF as a share of GDP is lower than in 2014-15 and capacity utilisation is still below 80%, the threshold that typically triggers fresh capacity creation.
Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) — Leading the growth in bank credit to industry, but experts say the loans may be funding working capital rather than fresh investment.
Workers and job seekers — Manufacturing employment rose only from 5.1 crore to 5.3 crore, and its share in total employment is broadly unchanged over a decade.
PLI beneficiary sectors (solar modules, pharma, autos, specialty steel, electronics) — Capture nearly 83% of PLI investment and the bulk of the 8.5 lakh direct jobs created under the schemes.
Reserve Bank of India — Its capacity utilisation and bank credit data provide the evidence base for judging the industrial investment cycle.

Why it matters

Manufacturing is meant to absorb India's large, low-skilled workforce and lift India's weight in global trade, but on both counts the needle has barely moved in 12 years — employment share is flat and the global export share is stuck at 1.7%. With private investment as a share of GDP falling and factory capacity utilisation still under 80%, the investment cycle that manufacturing-led growth depends on has not turned decisively. The concentration of PLI gains in five sectors also raises the question of whether targeted subsidies can substitute for broad-based competitiveness.

UPSC angle

Prelims pointers

Make in India launched on September 25, 2014 by PM Narendra Modi.
14 PLI schemes launched across 2020 and 2021; cumulative investment Rs 2.4 lakh crore as of March 2026; 8.5 lakh direct jobs.
India's share in global merchandise exports: 0.8% (2002) to 1.7% (2013), unchanged at 1.7% in 2025-26 — source UNCTAD.
Manufacturing share in GVA (new series): 14.6% in 2022-23 to 15.6% in 2025-26.
Capacity utilisation (RBI data) remains below the 80% mark seen as the trigger for new capacity investment.
Manufacturing FDI share in total FDI rose from nearly 48% in 2014-15 to 55% in 2025-26.

Mains framing

Twelve years of Make in India illustrate the gap between industrial policy announcements and structural transformation. The evidence is mixed at best: manufacturing GVA share has risen only marginally (14.6% in 2022-23 to 15.6% in 2025-26 on the new series, and is lower than 2014 on the old series), manufacturing outpaced overall growth in only five of 12 years on the old series, and within the IIP it beat the overall index in just three of 12 years. Non-petroleum exports grew 53% to $388.3 billion, but the earlier 12 years saw over 400% growth, and India's global merchandise export share has been frozen at 1.7% since 2013 — suggesting competitiveness, not just base effects, is the constraint. The causes point to a weak investment cycle: private GFCF as a share of GDP is below 2014-15 levels and falling since 2022-23, capacity utilisation remains under the 80% threshold for new capacity creation, and rising bank credit to industry (led by MSMEs) appears to fund working capital rather than expansion. The PLI response has been real but narrow — Rs 2.4 lakh crore of investment with nearly 83% in five sectors and 86% of 8.5 lakh jobs in five sectors — while total manufacturing employment moved only from 5.1 crore to 5.3 crore, leaving its employment share flat. The way forward, as the Prime Minister himself framed it in 2014, lies less in "fancy incentive schemes" and more in a "development and growth-oriented environment" that revives broad-based private capital formation and lifts capacity utilisation, so that labour-intensive sectors outside the PLI list also scale.

Key terms

Make in India: Campaign launched on September 25, 2014 to expand manufacturing's role in India's growth, investment, exports and employment.
PLI (Production-Linked Incentive) scheme: Incentives tied to incremental production/sales; 14 schemes launched in 2020-21, drawing Rs 2.4 lakh crore investment by March 2026.
GVA (Gross Value Added): Measure of output net of intermediate inputs, used to compute a sector's share in the economy.
GFCF (Gross Fixed Capital Formation): Spending on creation of real/physical assets; private GFCF as a share of GDP has been falling since 2022-23.
IIP (Index of Industrial Production): Monthly index tracking industrial output volume; manufacturing is a major component.
Capacity utilisation: RBI measure of how intensively factories are used; above roughly 80% firms typically invest in new capacity.

Practice questions

Twelve years after Make in India, has India's manufacturing sector achieved structural transformation? Critically examine with reference to growth, investment, exports and employment data.
Production-Linked Incentive schemes have produced concentrated rather than broad-based gains. Discuss the merits and limitations of sector-specific incentives as a manufacturing strategy for India.
India's share in global merchandise exports has stagnated at 1.7% since 2013 despite rising export values. What factors explain this, and what measures can improve manufacturing competitiveness?

Grounded only in the source report — figures and dates are the source's, not inferred.

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