The concept of ‘make in India’ is not about inviting large foreign companies to India and urging them to make their products in India. “The concept is more about encouraging MSMEs to take up manufacturing,” said Jagat Shah, founder and chief mentor of Cluster Pulse, an economic development agency. He was here to address a session on ‘Innovative approaches to make in India for global markets’ organised by the Vizagapatam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, on Friday.
Mr. Shah has been on road trip as part of the programme ‘Mentor on Road’, designed by him. The goal of the road trip is to meet MSMEs, rural enterprises, young entrepreneurs and start-ups, and explain about scope and opportunities of ‘Make in India’ concept.
According to Mr. Shah, there is a huge opportunity for the start-ups in India at present.
Giving an understanding, he said, “India has been importing about 180 products since last 50 years. We have been importing some basic components connected to the power industry and telecom sector. We are launching satellites, but we do not manufacture SIM cards. If we concentrate on manufacturing at least a few of the products from the list of 180, things will change to a great deal,” he said.
According to him, India imports LED screen to the tune of Rs. 8,000 crore from China but there is no manufacturing industry.
‘Make in India’ was all about addressing these issues and the MSMEs had to rise to the occasion. It would give a tremendous boost to the employment sector, said Mr. Shah. “All you need is a good business plan. Today, getting your project financed is much easier than what it was earlier,” he said.
According to him, the agriculture sector’s contribution to the GDP has shrunk from 41.8 per cent in 1950-51 to 11.6 per cent as on date and that of the services sector has gone up from 29.5 per cent in 1950 to 59.4 per cent, but the contribution of manufacturing sector had been insignificant. “In 1950-51, it was just about 9 per cent and now it is 15.1 per cent. At the same time, contribution of the manufacturing sector in South-East Asian countries have risen phenomenally. The share of Thailand is about 35 per cent, in China it is 32 per cent and in Indonesia it is about 25 per cent,” he said.
He went ahead to add that eight States in the country contributed about 70 per cent of share of manufacturing sector in the GDP, while Gujarat alone had a share of 29 per cent. The share of AP was below 15 per cent, he said.
Industry-academia
Mr. Shah pointed out that MSMEs development will attract employment and industry-academia should play a major role in empowering the youth with the required skill sets.
