India’s Journey Towards A Manufacturing Nation
As Make in India completes twelve years, the initiative has transformed India’s manufacturing landscape by expanding production, investment and capabilities across industries. During this period, production has increased across electronics, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, steel, railways and defence. India has also developed the capacity to manufacture components, machinery, strategic materials and advanced technologies. Initiatives such as NSWS, PLI, PM GatiShakti and the India Industrial Land Bank have supported investment and production. New schemes focus on semiconductors, mobile phones, industrial parks, specialty steel and rare-earth magnets, further strengthening domestic manufacturing.
A New Direction for Indian Manufacturing
Twelve years ago, on 25 September 2014, ‘Make in India’ was launched with the ambition of becoming a global hub for manufacturing, design and innovation.
The initiative focused on facilitating investment, fostering innovation and developing world-class infrastructure. Guided by ‘Minimum Government, Maximum Governance’, it has also sought to modernise processes and policies.
Over the years, Make in India has opened new opportunities for businesses and investors to participate in India’s manufacturing journey. The initiative has subsequently been expanded under Make in India 2.0. The initiative now focuses on 27 sectors, which include 15 in manufacturing and 12 in services.
India’s Manufacturing at a Larger Scale
Manufacturing has recorded strong growth over time. Recent indicators also point to continued growth in manufacturing.
Manufacturing Gross Value Added (GVA) at constant prices recorded a compound annual growth rate of 10.88% between 2022-23 and 2025-26 under the revised national accounts series.
Industrial output provides another indication of recent growth. The manufacturing component of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) increased by 7.0% during April-July 2026 compared with the corresponding period of 2025.
Rising Production Across Key Manufacturing Industries
The expansion in manufacturing is also visible across several industries, with substantial increases in production and capacity.
Electronics: Electronics production increased nearly sevenfold, from ~₹1.9 lakh crore in 2014-15 to ~₹13.11 lakh crore in 2025-26. Within this total, mobile-phone production rose approximately 32-fold, from ~₹18,900 crore to ~₹6.3 lakh crore over the same period. India is the world’s second-largest mobile phone manufacturer by volume. Overall electronics production also recorded 15.8% growth in 2025–26 over the previous year.
Automobiles: Vehicle production reached 31.03 million units in 2024-25, ~33% higher than in 2014-15. Several vehicle segments also recorded significantly higher production in 2024-25 compared with 2020-21. Passenger and commercial vehicle production increased by 65% each. Three-wheeler production rose by 71%. Two-wheeler production grew by 30%.
Pharmaceuticals & Medical Devices: India’s pharmaceutical industry ranks 3rd globally by volume and 11th by value. Annual turnover reached ₹5,08,630 crore in 2025-26, growing at an average rate of 9.2% over the preceding five years. During 2025-26, pharmaceutical exports stood at ₹2,62,697 crore. Domestic manufacturing of medical devices rose by ~48.2%, from ~₹28,000 crore in 2019-20 to ₹41,500 crore in 2024-25.
Steel: Crude steel production increased from 81.7 million tonnes in 2014-15 to 170.0 million tonnes in 2025-26.
Railways: Indian Railways manufactured 54,809 coaches over 2014-24. Average annual railway coach production rose from less than 3,300 during 2004-14 to 5,481 during 2014-24. Domestic production also includes locomotives and modern passenger coaches. In 2025-26, Indian Railways produced 1,674 locomotives. 6,677 Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches were manufactured in 2025-26. These coaches are lighter, safer and designed for greater comfort and jerk-free travel.
Defence: The value of indigenous defence production increased from ₹46,429 crore in 2014-15 to a record ₹1.78 lakh crore in FY 2025-26. This reflected an increase of ~283%, bringing production to nearly four times its 2014-15 level.
Deepening Domestic Manufacturing Capability
The increase in final-product manufacturing is only one part of India’s manufacturing journey. Domestic capabilities increasingly extend into the inputs, components, systems and machinery used across industrial value chains.
Advanced Products and Strategic Materials
Advanced and Complex Pharmaceutical Products: India now manufactures complex and advanced pharmaceutical products. These include Trastuzumab Emtansine, the world’s first biosimilar antibody-drug conjugate for breast cancer. India also manufactures Docaravimab-Miromavimab, the world’s first anti-rabies monoclonal antibody combination. Miqnaf is India’s first developed macrolide antibiotic in three decades for bacterial pneumonia. Desidustat, a new chemical entity for treating anaemia in kidney patients, further reflects India’s capability in innovative drug development.
Rare-earth permanent magnets: A pilot plant for Nd-Fe-B (Neodymium-Iron-Boron) rare earth permanent magnets was established at the International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI), Hyderabad, in March 2026. These magnets are essential for electric vehicles, renewable energy systems, electronics and advanced manufacturing technologies. The facility will support technology validation, process optimisation and industry collaboration. It will also help scale indigenous innovations towards commercial manufacturing while supporting deep-tech startups and private-sector participation.
Components, Systems and Assemblies
Manufacturing capabilities now increasingly cover intermediate components, integrated systems and structural assemblies used in complex final products.
In semiconductors for space applications, ISRO and SCL developed VIKRAM3201 and KALPANA3201 microprocessors. VIKRAM3201 is the first fully Make-in-India microprocessor qualified for the harsh conditions of launch vehicles and was fabricated at SCL’s facility. KALPANA3201 is a microprocessor designed to work with open-source software tools and has been tested with flight software.
In solar cells and modules, module manufacturing capacity rose from 2.3 GW in 2014 to 192 GW as of June 2026. Solar-cell capacity increased from 1.2 GW in 2014 to ~30 GW as of June 2026.
In electric-vehicle technology, an indigenous 30 kW drive system, combining the motor and inverter, was launched in March 2026. It has been designed, fabricated, and validated and is ready for commercialisation.
In aircraft manufacturing, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) opened its third Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas Mk1A production assembly line in October 2025, taking annual capacity to 24 aircraft. It also inaugurated a second HTT-40 trainer-aircraft production line, covering major structures such as the fuselages, wings and control surfaces.
In railway components, the Rail Wheel Factory produced 2,10,026 wheels, 1,22,000 axles and 1,20,100 wheelsets in 2025-26. These registered a growth of 4%, 30% and 22%, respectively, over the previous year.
In nuclear components, the Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC) dispatched its eighth set of steam-generator tubes for upcoming 700 MW Indian nuclear reactors in September 2025. The tubes were manufactured, tested and inspected domestically.
Capital Goods: Machinery Behind Manufacturing
Domestic manufacturing capability also extends to the machinery used to produce, process and assemble goods. Production across heavy engineering equipment and various capital goods sub-sectors increased from ₹2,87,233 crore in 2019-20 to ₹5,69,900 crore in 2024-25. This was nearly a twofold increase over the period.
In earthmoving and mining machinery, production rose from ₹31,028 crore in 2019-20 to ₹80,750 crore in 2024-25, an increase of 160.3%. Printing machinery increased from ₹12,678 crore to ₹29,716 crore, a rise of 134.4%. Machine tools grew from ₹6,152 crore to ₹14,286 crore, an increase of 132.2%. Plastic-processing machinery rose from ₹2,350 crore to ₹4,827 crore, up 105.4%. Heavy Electrical Engineering Equipment increased from ₹1,79,199 crore to ₹3,64,706 crore, a rise of 103.5%. Food-processing machinery grew from ₹7,547 crore to ₹15,249 crore, up 102.1%. Textile machinery increased from ₹5,355 crore to ₹10,461 crore, a rise of 95.4%. Dies, moulds and press tools grew from ₹13,682 crore to ₹18,400 crore, an increase of 34.5%. Process plant equipment rose from ₹29,250 crore to ₹31,505 crore, up 7.7%.
Reforms Journey under Make in India
Make in India’s reform journey combines easier investment and business processes with support for domestic production. Recent initiatives build on these measures, extending attention to components, strategic materials and specialised technologies.
Key Initiatives under Make in India
India’s investor-friendly policy permits 100% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) through the automatic route in most sectors, excluding certain strategic sectors. Cumulative FDI reached USD 843 billion during 2014-15 to 2025-26, rising 169% over the preceding twelve-year period.
The National Single Window System (NSWS) helps businesses identify required approvals and apply through a common digital platform. It currently provides access to over 327 Central approvals and 3,452 State approvals across 34 States and Union Territories. As of 21 September 2026, the platform handles an average of over 3.06 lakh applications annually. It has also onboarded over 5.69 lakh business entities, including proprietorships, companies, LLPs and foreign entities.
India Industrial Land Bank (IILB) is a centralised GIS-enabled platform offering up-to-date spatial and non-spatial information on industrial land across India. As of May 2026, the platform mapped 4,220 industrial parks, covering ~6.98 lakh hectares.
PM GatiShakti National Master Plan, launched in October 2021, enables infrastructure planning and coordinated execution across Central ministries/departments and States/UTs. It uses geospatial data, satellite imagery and API integration to support informed decisions on infrastructure development. Under this framework, the Network Planning Group (NPG) evaluates major Central infrastructure projects at the planning stage. It focuses on coordination, connectivity across transport modes, last-mile links and development around project locations. As of 11 August 2026, NPG had evaluated 396 projects worth ~₹18.66 lakh crore. Of these, 256 projects had been sanctioned, including 198 under implementation.
The Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes incentivise incremental production and sales across 14 sectors, including electronics, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, solar PV modules, specialty steel and textiles. As of June 2026, the schemes attracted ₹2.6 lakh crore in investment and generated ₹23.8 lakh crore in production and sales. They also supported more than ₹15.5 lakh crore in exports and created 14.6 lakh jobs.
Launched in January 2016, Startup India aims to nurture innovation, support startups, and encourage investment in India’s startup ecosystem. As of September 2026, ~2.54 lakh entities have been recognised as startups under the initiative.
Deepening Manufacturing through Recent Initiatives
The Production Linked Incentive Scheme for Specialty Steel (PLI 1.2), with its third round launched in November 2025, covers advanced and emerging steel categories. This includes super alloys, CRGO steel, stainless steel long and flat products, titanium alloys and coated steels.
The Scheme to Promote Manufacturing of Sintered Rare Earth Permanent Magnets, notified in December 2025, has allocated ₹7,280 crore to establish 6,000 MTPA of integrated manufacturing capacity for sintered NdFeB-type rare-earth permanent magnets.
Bharat Audyogik Vikas Yojana (BHAVYA), approved in March 2026, has allocated ₹33,660 crore to develop 100 investment-ready, world-class industrial parks with integrated industrial infrastructure.
The Mobile Phone Manufacturing Scheme (MPMS), approved in July 2026, has allocated ₹62,500 crore for FY2026-27 to FY2030-31 to scale up mobile phone production and deepen domestic value addition. It also aims to strengthen supply-chain resilience and enhance global competitiveness.
Semicon 2.0, approved in July 2026, has allocated ₹1,27,500 crore to provide sustained, long-term support for India’s semiconductor ecosystem. The support covers design, manufacturing, advanced packaging, materials, equipment, research and talent development.
Bharat Audyogik Vikas Yojana Rasayan (BHAVYA Rasayan), approved on 24 July 2026, has allocated ₹3,030 crore to facilitate the establishment of three dedicated chemical parks in India.
## Conclusion
As ‘Make in India’ completes twelve years, it continues to strengthen India’s position as a manufacturing and investment destination.
The initiative now goes beyond producing more goods and focuses on building the skills, technology and capacity needed to make them in India. As these foundations mature, Indian manufacturing is positioned to create greater value at home and compete with confidence across global markets.
