We are looking at an additional production of almost 30 lakh crore over the next five years under the PLI scheme and this will take manufacturing to the smallest towns in the country, thereby creating equal opportunities for millions of people and bridging the divide that is only widening after the pandemic.

This was one of the most anticipated Budgets in recent times as the economy is just coming out of the post-pandemic blues and India is well on course to emerge as one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. Although it was one of the shortest Budget addresses by any finance minister, it surely made a huge impact in terms of its focus on increased infrastructure spending, digital transformation, ease of doing business and promoting manufacturing.

The FM correctly highlighted the huge potential of job creation in the manufacturing sector in her Budget speech and talked about potential six million jobs being created out of the newly announced PLI scheme in 14 sectors. We are looking at an additional production of almost 30 lakh crore over the next five years under the PLI scheme and this will take manufacturing to the smallest towns in the country, thereby creating equal opportunities for millions of people and bridging the divide that is only widening after the pandemic. This will also create a strong foundation and scale for India emerging as the next export hub for manufacturing for a wide range of products.

If we look at the mobile manufacturing space alone, we see a huge potential in exports and local value addition with incremental production of $50 billion in the domestic market and $100 billion in exports. We will also see Indian champions emerging in this sector who will have large-scale design capabilities and backward integration, and these units will create millions of small and medium enterprises, which in turn will generate a strong and virtuous cycle of growth.

This Budget has also helped correct the anomalies in the Customs duty structure in the highly potential area of wearables (smart watches/ fitness trackers) and hearables (in-ear wireless hearing devices) and introduced a phased manufacturing programme to encourage development of a component ecosystem over the next five years. This industry alone could generate local production and exports of $10 billion. Encouraging domestic manufacturing companies to invest in R&D in defence and setting aside 60% of defence budget for these companies will also create a new vertical for manufacturing in India. I feel this could be one of the most path-breaking Budgets which will pave the way for a truly Atmanirbhar Bharat and make us truly self-reliant. As Victor Hugo once famously said “no power on earth can stop an idea whose time has come” — this is our time and time to ‘Make in India’.

https://www.financialexpress.com/budget/this-is-our-time-and-time-to-make-in-india/2425397/