In keeping with its policy to promote import substitution, the Union government has identified over 300 imported products for domestic manufacturing, expanding an initial target of 100 items.
The selected products could be manufactured locally by Indian firms through direct production, joint ventures, or technology transfers, Secretary in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Amardeep Singh Bhatia said while addressing the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce (IGCC) Industry Dialogue here on Thursday.
“We initially began a process to identify 100 products that are either not made in India or produced at a very small scale. In the process we found out that it is not only 100 but we can look at more than 300 products which can be taken up in the country for manufacturing,” he said. The official added that more schemes are being planned based on the learnings from Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes which will involve deeper industrial policy interventions. “These will aim to not only address gaps in the earlier schemes but also ensure that there is a deeper penetration of industry in whichever sectors we are focused on.”
The policy is primarily aimed at boosting domestic production of various intermediate goods, inputs, and components.
Deregulation and Industrial Infrastructure Push
To make it easier to do business in India the government has high-level committees looking at reforms across sectors at the central government level. “We have a deregulation cell that has been set up in the Cabinet Secretariat which is looking at deregulation at the state government level.”
The secretary said 600 reforms have been identified: sectoral reforms and reforms cutting across sectors. Some of these reforms have also been implemented and monitored at various levels right up to the highest level. These are also having an effect within the government.
“It has also snowballed into the departments thinking of bringing in more reforms. The departments are changing their mindset to bring in more reforms to make it easier for businesses to do what they have to do,” Bhatia said.
The focus on manufacturing has further strengthened over the last 2-3 years. The 20 industrial townships have been rolled out and are at various stages of implementation. The 100 industrial parks that will provide plug and play infrastructure will be available to investors in the next 3-5 years.
Detailed plans have been drawn up to meet the target of developed India by 2047, which also has targets to be achieved by 2030.
India has a target of scaling our annual production of electronics and semiconductors from a baseline of $ 330 billion today to $ 500 billion by 2030. Beyond 2030 the target is to reach $ 5.3 to 8 trillion by 2047 which will unleash a lot of manufacturing opportunities.
In the power sector and green energy India very ambitious targets of increasing installed capacity from 533 gigawatts today to 2187 gigawatts by 2047 with non-fossil fuel share generation increasing from 51% to 90% by 2047. Similar scale of opportunities are coming up in railways, infrastructure, railways and pharma among other sectors.
High-Dependence Intermediate Goods
While India has developed substantial capacity in the manufacturing and assembly of finished products, it continues to rely on China and other countries for inputs and components.
The intermediate goods that go into final products are on priority list for domestic manufacturing as their import dependence is very high. Most of these products like raw material for the pharma sector, agrochemicals, dyes, polymers, and industrial synthesis. Printed Circuit Board Assemblies (PCBAs), display modules, camera modules, lithium-ion battery cells, passive components (resistors, capacitors), and connectors. For the auto sector, especially for electric and hybrid vehicles. High grade steel and metal alloys