What Budget 2015 should do for PM Modi's 'Make in India' project

It’s perhaps the most-talked-about amongst the prime minister’s pet projects, along with Smart Cities, Skill India and Digital India. But the ‘ Make in India’ initiative, launched in September, assumes significance for its sheer criticality — and ambition.

Consider this: the Index of Industrial Production has languished in the past three years, dipping into negative territory in 2013-14, as mega projects got stuck in huge time and cost overruns.




The difficulty in getting projects moving is reflected in India’s abysmal ranking in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index — 142 out of 189 countries.

The government is determined to turn things around.

And the Budget will be the ideal starting point for breathing life into the prime minister’s dream of making India a world-class manufacturing hub, where both multinationals and Indian corporations make — and make more — in India.
So what can we expect from Budget 2015-16 for Make in India?

Perhaps reforms to ease environmental clearances and a move towards single-window clearances of projects; fresh export promotion policies; and reductions in excise duties coupled with exemptions.


Here’s Make in India in three parts: The objective, the ground reality, and what needs to be done: