Made in India was an idea and today it is a movement which has changed the fortunes of the Indian economy. Before we take the clock forward, let us take the clock back and let us talk about the good, the great and the very good of this 10-year incredible journey of Made in India.
Piyush Goyal: If you recall, way back in 2014, the mood was despondent. The economy was down. Confidence was shattered. Corruption scandals were coming out by the week. Inflation was high. Interest rates were high. The rupee was totally uncertain. Foreign exchange reserves were down. Growth was badly affected.
We had an indecisive government which only led to investment, both domestic and international, giving up on India. Domestic manufacturing was not growing at all. It was in a period where with the Coalgate and telecom scam, all the coal mines getting cancelled, everywhere the mood was down. Prime Minister Narendra Modi came in with a vision for India. He wanted to make sure India becomes a global superpower. He wanted to provide jobs and opportunities for our youth. He recognised that manufacturing is critical to India’s success story and that is when he launched the Make in India programme on 25th September 2014.
Ten years has been a remarkable journey. It could not have been possible, but for the multifarious and multidimensional changes that the government under Prime Minister Modi did, which have impacted the manufacturing ecosystem, whether it is the GST, one-nation-one-tax, which brought together the nation’s tax structure to make it more amenable to interstate transfers and manufacturing in one state and supplying across the country or it was the IBC, which brought the banks back in shape and lending to MSMEs and domestic manufacturers started; whether it was the ease of doing business where India has made remarkable progress, the reduction of compliance burden, or the decriminalisation of laws.
Prime Minister Modi focused on creating 20 industrial smart townships for plug and play infrastructure. Likewise, we have offered a national single window by which investors and manufacturing companies can have a smooth segue in their journey in India. PLI schemes, the production linked incentive, focus on critical sectors to bring scale to India, both to meet the huge domestic demand and export markets, were a big boost to the manufacturing ecosystem.
I can go on and on, whether it is our thrust to innovation, whether it is our effort to promote quality control, to decriminalise laws, to ensure that Indian manufacturers have a low tax regime, in so many ways including the thrust on infrastructure which has given a boost to demand of goods and services. Make in India is the fulcrum around which a number of other programmes of the government have helped take up manufacturing to almost twice the size it was 10 years ago. As our economy grew by 90%, so did manufacturing, double, so that we continue to have 17% of the GDP coming out of manufacturing which at one point looked like tumbling down on a one-way street. The other important aspect I would like to highlight for you and your readers, the great part of it, the really important element, is the fact that today India provides the 4D advantage, the decisive leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the demographic dividend of a youthful, talented, skilled India, the demand that 140 crore Indians provide, and democracy, which ensures the safety and security of people and investors, a rule of law which will never allow discrimination against one or the other.
The 4D is a very compelling case to attract manufacturers to India. Domestic and international investors today find in India a golden opportunity to grow their business, to meet the large Indian demand, and enjoying the fruits of economies of scale and competitive costs meet international demand as well.
My sincere compliments on the way you put the blueprint of Made in India and what looked like an idea has become a movement now. But where will Made in India move in the next 10 years? How do you see it evolving? It started with a focus on basic manufacturing and then value addition, and now perhaps specialised manufacturing. India has welcomed the capacity to set up semiconductors, defence, railways, manufacturing. Will the next wave in the manufacturing sector be from basic to specialised?
Piyush Goyal: You hit the nail on the head. I was at the space agency office at Adelaide, where their startups and our startups were engaged in a very interesting conversation to explore future partnerships. The team was in India until Sunday, led by the space agency chief, to discuss with us for joint collaborative effort in the space sector.
India today is recognised, and not just for basic manufacturing. Today, we talked with them about critical and emerging technologies, how to exploit the critical minerals and rare earths that Australia is blessed with, and what we can do to partner in green steel which they are very interested in doing. And we had steel company representatives and CEOs as a part of my delegation.
Interestingly, this visit to Australia for the joint ministerial commission in a way, centres around the Make in India programme because Australia has almost stopped manufacturing anything. They have outsourced the automobile industry. They buy everything from other parts of the world. Our auto exports to Australia grew by 100% ever since we finalised the free trade agreement, the ECTA agreement (Australia-India Economic Cooperation & Trade Agreement). So, Australia today is looking up to India to provide that manufacturing base for their innovations, their technologies, to meet their needs at competitive prices. And through the last three days of engagements with top businesses in Australia, I had the presidents of both FICCI and CII with me. A first for India, where both our premier chambers at the highest level have gone overseas together to promote the India story. This is a great signal of the times to come.
The whole of the government thinking of Prime Minister Modi is now transiting to a whole of the industry and a whole of the nation approach, where we are all pitching in and working together for a better future, to create more jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities, give our startups a better international outreach and take the economy to greater heights as we work in the Amrit Kaal to make India a developed and a prosperous nation, meet the aspirations of 140 crore young and truly empowered Indians.
The average Indian is really enjoying the benefits of the spirit of Amrit Kaal, whether it is in manufacturing, stock markets or even real estate or even for that matter, in feeling the wealth effect. Make in India has been a resounding success, where by and large the world economic growth has been slow and India has managed to get its exports back on track despite COVID. So, do you think that is something which is underappreciated, needs to be appreciated that we are growing despite global challenges?
Piyush Goyal: Absolutely. Now, we have two years of COVID behind us. We have two international wars going on. We have the Red Sea crisis. Despite all of this, our exports continue to grow both in merchandise and services. We continue to see a lot of demand for Indian products and services and you will be amazed that what happened in Sydney yesterday and what we discussed today with the government. Yesterday, we had 1100 real estate developers of repute come down from India for a three-day conference in Australia. They have been studying Sydney city for new technologies, emerging construction styles and there was a three-day conference which I inaugurated in Sydney and believe me, they are so super excited about the growth opportunity in India.
They told me that they expect in the next 30 years to construct twice the number of buildings that all of India has today. So, what was constructed in, I do not know, hundreds of years in India until today will be tripled in the next 30 years. Look at the huge opportunity for the entire ecosystem, whether it is steel, cement, furniture, carpets, electricals, electronics, air conditioning, the list just goes on and on and will you believe what happened when I was talking to the Australian government today.
Their biggest challenge is housing and construction and when I offered them that I can send my realtors to Australia and I have 1100 of them in Sydney already doing an international conference, they were super excited and I have already told the CREDAI president to quickly mount a delegation to Australia and get tracking to build in Australia which will give a big boost to Make in India because our products from India, prefabricated, steel structures, slabs, our furniture, our electricals, our electronics, they will all have a huge market for the million-plus homes that Australia needs to construct. So, the future is bright. America will need to reconstruct. Europe will need to reconstruct. They are all 70-80-year-old infrastructure in these developed nations. This is our time for outreach to the world. Make in India will support export from India, will support serve from India, will invite innovation in India. It has tremendous potential and multi-dimensional opportunities as you very rightly pointed out.
Sabka saath, sabka vikas, the two-spirit of the Modi government is now getting imbibed. But personally, you have always, always championed entrepreneurship. You have always advocated that India really needs to create lots of entrepreneurs for us to move from 4 trillion to 5 trillion and 5 trillion to 10 trillion dollars. Would it be in semiconductor? Would it be in electronics? Would it be in defence?
Piyush Goyal: All of the above and more. I was only 17 years old when I started on my entrepreneurial journey while I was a college student. I did my chartered accountancy and law and ran a new unit to manufacture steel forgings simultaneously. And I went through all the trials and tribulations of a small-scale industry in the 80s and 90s, but persevered, grew the business and I can tell you, the joy of being an entrepreneur is just something else altogether. When I finished my chartered accountancy, I had probably more than 102, 103 letters offering me a job without even an interview.
There were good offers, very-very attractive pays, and scales. My industry was also going through some stress, but I could not be anything but an entrepreneur. And I truly believe Indians are intrinsically entrepreneurial. COVID, we saw a number of entrepreneurs come out of nowhere. When I represent North Mumbai now, in North Mumbai, there is a Mahavir Nagar Khau Galli where whenever I go to different food stalls, I find tremendous stories of grit and determination. A school teacher who during COVID was free and did not know what to do other than online teaching, started a juice stall in a thela. And from thela, selling juice in innovative containers.
So, he would take coconut, take out the shell, and in that make a heady mix of juices and offer it. He started only four years back in COVID, three-and-a-half years back. Today, he has a swanky stall, a swanky shop selling juices. He has a line of people waiting outside, he runs out of juice by the end of the day. And just for the packaging, where he takes the coconut and takes out the malai from the coconut, that malai goes to feed poor children and give them nutrition at the end of the day.
Now what a remarkable story this single one is. A dosa maker outside Ghatkopar station, selling 300 dosas at Rs 300 a day, translates to what? Three crore rupees of dosas sold on the streets. This is the entrepreneurial spirit of India. Whether it is a startup who has become a unicorn, whether it is somebody who invests in space technology, in semiconductors, or in electric vehicles, components, the green ecosystem, solar rooftop equipment, the equipment required for green hydrogen, big or small, domestic or an international business, there is space for everybody. I would urge every youngster to be a job creator, not run after a government job. Those days are gone where security and the government service was the only priority.
If somebody really likes it, he must do it. I myself am a government servant today. But it is after working 30 years as an entrepreneur, I came into government. I truly believe that there is tremendous potential in India for young men and women with ideas, young men and women to explore their vision, to explore the world. And I assure all my young friends, they will come out winner. You need the courage and the determination to succeed. No power on earth can stop our youngsters.
My final question is that Piyush Goyal has a reputation that every time he goes for a foreign travel, he comes back with a lot of good news in terms of JVs, bilateral agreements. So, what should we expect from your trip from Australia?
Piyush Goyal: Well, I think things evolve. I told you about the real estate story that was something that was like an icing on the cake, most unexpected. But we are discussing with Australia for greater access for our services sector, for greater opportunities for our students who come over here. I have just met the Premier of South Australia and he is very keen to come to India to attract more students to come to Australia and simultaneously to consider starting a university in India to have joint degrees and dual degrees for our students and also to send Australian students to come down to India and experience India, study and work in India so that they can be a part of the future India-Australia partnership.
Similarly, we are in dialogue for greater market access in Australia for our pharmaceuticals. We do believe there is tremendous potential for the space partnership and we are working with the government of Australia to have critical mineral joint exploration. I have also announced the opening of 10 offices of Invest India, NICDC which sets up these industrial smart cities, ECGC which provides export credit guarantee, DGFT which is promoting trade and we are trying to create along with CII and FICCI in a public-private partnership model offices which will promote investment, trade, technology and at a later stage tourism.
The triple T is going to be promoted through these offices. I opened one in Singapore on Sunday. We will soon open one in Abu Dhabi, Dubai in the UAE, one in Sydney, one in Saudi Arabia, one in Zurich, New York. We have plans for 10 to begin with and going forward basis the success of this effort, we will expand worldwide so that investors across the world will have a single-stop shop where they can get the India experience, where we can handhold their journey to India, whether as investors or as tourists and we will make sure that India becomes the preferred destination for the world for investment, trade, technology and tourism.
