Addressing the webinar of Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) on Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi  called upon Indian industry to maintain global standards for their products and compete globally.

The PM has been speaking to experts online on various aspects of Union Budget 2022.

The main theme of the webinar was ‘Make in India for the World’. “Positive factors like demographic dividend of young and talented population, democratic set up, natural resources should encourage us to move towards ‘Make in India’ with determination”.

Modi said Aatmnirbharta (self reliance) is all the more important if we see from the prism of national security. He said the  world was looking at India as a manufacturing powerhouse”. He asked the industry captains to ‘take pride in the products your company makes and instil this sense of pride in your Indian customers as well …You will have to maintain global standards and you will also have to compete globally.”

This was Prime Minister’s eighth post-budget webinar. He said that the budget had many significant provisions for Aatmnirbhar Bharat and Make in India. He said that it is not acceptable that a country like India ends up merely as a market. He pointed towards supply chain disruptions during the pandemic and other uncertainties to underline the critical importance of Make in India.

On the other hand positive factors like demographic dividend of young and talented population, democratic set up, natural resources should also encourage us to move towards Make in India with determination.

Modi also referred to his call for zero defect-zero effect manufacturing that he gave for the ramparts of Red Fort. ‘Aatmnirbharta is all the more important if we see from the prism of national security’, he said.

The Prime Minister said, that the world is looking at India as a manufacturing powerhouse. Manufacturing, he said, is the 15 per cent of India’s GDP, but there are infinite possibilities before Make in India and we should work with full strength to create a robust manufacturing base in India, he said.

Prime Minister Modi gave the examples of new demand and opportunities in sectors like semi-conductors and Electric Vehicles where manufacturers should move with a sense of removing dependencies on foreign sources. Similarly, areas like steel and medical equipment need to be focussed for indigenous manufacturing, he added.

Pointing to the difference between availability of a product  as opposed to availability of made in India product in the market, Modi reiterated his dismay that many of the supplies for India’s various festivals are seeing foreign providers whereas they have been and can be easily provided by local manufacturers. He also emphasized that ambit of ‘Vocal for Local’ goes well beyond buying ‘diyas’ on Diwali.

The Prime Minister  asked the private sector to push the factors of vocal for local and Aatmnirbhar Bharat in their marketing and branding efforts. “Take pride in the products your company makes and instil this sense of pride in your Indian customers as well. For this some common branding can also be considered”, he added.

Highlighting the need to find new destinations for the local products, Modi  exhorted the private sector to enhance spending on R&D and to diversify and upgrade their product portfolio. Referring to declaration of 2023 as International Year of Millets, the Prime Minister said “The demand for millets is increasing in the world. By studying the world markets, we should prepare our mills in advance for maximum production and packaging,”he said.

Modi also referred to new possibilities due to opening up of  areas like mining, coal and defence. He asked the participants to prepare a new strategy. “You will have to maintain global standards and you will also have to compete globally”, he said.

“This budget has given significant importance of MSME through credit facilitation and technology upgradation. The government has also announced a RAMP program of Rs 6,000 crore for MSMEs. The budget has also focused on developing new railway logistics products for farmers, for large industries and MSMEs. The integration of postal and railway networks will solve the problems of connectivity in small enterprises and remote areas, Modi said.

The Prime Minister said that regional manufacturing ecosystem can be strengthened by using the model of PM DevINE which has been announced for the North-East Region. Similarly, reforms in Special Economic Zone Act will provide a boost for the exports.

Modi also elaborated on the impact of the reforms. He said that in PLI for large scale electronics manufacturing, target of 1 lakh crore rupees worth of production was achieved in December 2021. Many other PLI schemes are in the important stages of implementation.

The Prime Minister alluded to removal of 25 thousand compliances and auto renewal of licences by his government, leading to significant reduction in the compliance burden. He said digitization had brought speed and transparency in the regulatory framework. “From Common Spice Form to National Single Window System to set up a company, now you are feeling our development friendly approach at every step”, he added.

Prime Minister Modi further called upon the captains of manufacturing to pick up some areas and work to remove foreign dependence in that. He also said that such webinars are unprecedented governance steps to include stakeholder voices in the policy implementation and developing a collaborative approach for proper, timely and seamless implementation of the budget provisions for better outcomes.