Latest news with #NMM
Mint
a day ago
- Business
- Mint
India's National Manufacturing Mission is just the catalyst this sector needs
India's National Manufacturing Mission (NMM), announced in the Union budget this year, was much awaited. While the sector has grown over the years in size, its contribution to our economy has not gained share. The need to increase manufacturing as a proportion of GDP has always been emphasized and this mission-mode approach announced by the government should make a difference. An ambitious, empowered and inclusive framework is expected to be the hallmark for this mission. It must target a share of at least 12% in global manufacturing output for India, as against the current 3%. Let me share a few thoughts on a framework that could help propel India as a manufacturer. Also Read: Time to re-imagine Indian manufacturing from the ground up The first aspect is the structure of the mission, which could determine the success or failure of the initiative. The NMM can consider a three-tier structure. At the initial level, the government could consider having inter-ministerial task-forces. These should focus on the five key areas spelt out by the finance minister in her budget speech for 2025-26: namely, the ease of doing business; a future-ready workforce; micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs); technology adoption; and quality. These five task-forces could be under the concerned ministries with various stakeholders as members. They should recommend policies, propose roadmaps and drive implementation. The NMM could be headed by a senior industry leader. This can be the second tier. Its main members could be secretaries of key government departments related to manufacturing; they can provide policy and strategic direction. In addition, CEOs from industry associations could be members, while state chief secretaries can be special invitees. This high-level private-public partnership model will be crucial for driving this mission. At the pinnacle of this structure could be a high-level committee headed by the Prime Minister. Its members could be the NMM chairperson, finance minister, commerce and industry minister, cabinet secretary and a representative of the Niti Aayog. This three-tier structure, in our view, would be inclusive and empowered to drive reforms and take the steps required to achieve our goals. Also Read: Think ahead: India's electronics manufacturing must go up the value curve The second aspect is whether the NMM should have a sectoral focus or address sector-agnostic issues. In this, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) has suggested that its dominant focus should be on sector-agnostic areas, like regulatory reforms, cost competitiveness, the overall investment climate, skilling, quality, productivity and the like. The mission should also make strategic interventions in frontier-technology fields—such as electronics, batteries, defence, space, renewables, AI, quantum computing, etc—by boosting domestic design capability and value addition. Last year, the government announced an allocation of ₹1 trillion to encourage research and development (R&D) in sunrise domains by the private sector. We need to leverage this fund now to take a lead in the frontier technologies. The NMM's priorities are the third aspect. A sine qua non list would include macro-level policies, be it logistics, monetary, fiscal, tariffs or trade. These should be fully aligned with the mission's needs. It would also cover technology, which needs to be the key driver of manufacturing. A focus on value addition by way of design, key components and so on must also feature as a priority. So also export competitiveness, global value chain integration and import substitution in critical areas of dependency. As its fourth aspect, the mission will lay emphasis on MSMEs, which have been the main driver of manufacturing growth in several countries. Also Read: Rahul Jacob: Manufacturing is crying out for a reality check Ficci has suggested six areas of intervention: Training for MSME promoters to grow into mid-sized or large firms in the future; an impetus to family-owned businesses; the development of urban MSME zones, non-polluting MSME malls or urban industrial clusters within city limits to reduce logistical costs and enhance market access for small enterprises; support for environment, social and governance capacity among MSMEs; a catalyst for digital adoption across MSMEs to drive efficiency and growth; and light-touch regulations for three years for MSMEs in strategic areas to help them take off. For India to become a global manufacturing powerhouse, quality cannot be ignored. The mission should collaborate with industry consortiums to set Indian standards and India should take an active part in such processes at international standard-setting bodies. We need to promote and push Indian standards alongside our exports. Apart from the NMM, a high-level committee for regulatory reforms was also announced by the government. Ficci has suggested some broad terms of reference for its institutional structure, urging the adoption of a regulatory impact assessment framework to ensure transparent and consistent policy implementation across regulators. Overall, the two structures should lead to seamless communication and interaction between all stakeholders at every level—from central and state functionaries to experts and leaders of academia and industry—with everyone focused on one mission: manufacturing. The author is president, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
The Hindu
17-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
PM to launch revamped manuscripts mission on June 9
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the revamped National Manuscripts Mission, which was announced in the Union Budget earlier this year, on June 9. The 'Gyan Bharatam Mission', which is expected to cover more than one crore manuscripts, would be responsible for the survey, documentation and conservation of India's manuscript heritage lying with academic institutions, museums, libraries and private collectors. To accommodate this new initiative, the Union Budget had hiked the budgetary allocation for the existing National Manuscripts Mission (NMM) from ₹3.5 crore to ₹60 crore. Sources told The Hindu that a series of meetings, helmed by the Union Culture Secretary, have taken place to finalise the contours of the new organisation being set up and it is expected to be launched on June 9 by the Prime Minister. The Hindu had reported in October last that the Union Ministry of Culture was set to 'revive and relaunch' the NMM and was mulling the formation of an autonomous body to help preserve ancient texts in India. Presently, NMM is a part of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts. It was set up in 2003, but had not taken off as expected. The Culture Ministry had organised a meeting first on October 14, 2024, to discuss the way forward. The meeting chaired by Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, was attended by some notable experts in the field like former Chairperson of Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysore and well-known linguist Udaya Narayana Singh, Prof. K. Ramasubramanian of IIT Bombay, Dr. M.A. Alwar of Samskriti Foundation, Dr. Sudha Gopalakrishnan, Founder Director of NMM; Chamu Krishna Shastry, Chairman of Bhartiya Bhasha Samiti and Shrinivasa Varakhedi, Vice-Chancellor of Central Sanskrit University, Delhi. The expert group also included a programme manager from Google Arts and Culture. According to sources, the NMM has till date, prepared a metadata of 52 lakh manuscripts and roughly over three lakh titles have been digitised. However, only one-third of them have been uploaded. A senior official from the NMM said out of the nearly 1.30 lakh manuscripts uploaded, only 70,000 were available for viewing. The reason for this was that there was no 'access policy', which means there is no incentive for private owners to make manuscripts available with them be viewed. Around 80% of manuscripts in India are with private parties. The NMM has also informed that over the last 21 years, they have undertaken preventive and curative conservation of nine crore folios.
Time of India
14-05-2025
- Automotive
- Time of India
National Manufacturing Mission: A new blueprint to boost 'Make in India'
National Manufacturing Mission (NMM), announced in this year's budget, attempts to push ' Make in India ' into top gear. This can be accomplished by integrating India into GVCs and creating employment opportunities. Translating NMM's goals into concrete outcomes requires supporting sector-specific clusters through industrial policy interventions , fiscal support, cutting cost disadvantages and enhancing ease of compliance. On the policy front, NITI Aayog and some line ministries like MeitY have been engaged in understanding what would move the needle. NITI Aayog has published well-researched reports on specific sectors. The one on auto and auto component sector points out that momentum exists in eight clusters, including NCR, Pune and Chennai, that have attracted both domestic and global players, offering advanced manufacturing facilities and extensive logistics networks. But these clusters also face significant challenges, including limited access to modern tech tools and inadequate warehousing facilities. These limitations impede operational efficiency and competitiveness. There is an opportunity to transform some of these into big auto clusters with world-class facilities in collaboration with anchor players focused on specific segments, products or components. Creation of plug-and-play facilities in these clusters will ensure minimal setup time for industries, and provide common and shared infrastructure. Live Events Provision of common design and R&D facilities, factories and tool rooms, testing and training facilities, and logistics support within these mega-clusters will make manufacturing even more competitive at a global scale, draw in anchor players, and ensure a greater share of the automotive GVC moves to India. Cost disadvantages continue to dog Indian manufacturing, especially vis- a-vis key competitors such as China and Vietnam. But India can't wait while structural solutions to these disabilities are found. It needs well-designed, sharply focused and easy-to-deliver fiscal incentives. Despite much criticism of PLIs, their contribution to delivering quantum growth of exports in the electronics sector can't be glossed over. Success has come usually when three conditions are fulfilled: Participation of an anchor brand representing a sizable share of global trade. A simple set of eligibility criteria easy to verify. Timely disbursements matching the speed of incentive roll-out in peer countries. The realignment of value chains will remain a mirage if Indian MSMEs can't script success stories alongside anchor brands relocating to India. A beginning has been made with MeitY's incentive scheme for electronic components . Deepening the component manufacturing system will enable India to improve value addition on manufactured products and, thereby, maximise advantage from the fresh set of trade agreements on the anvil. Besides electronics, there is scope to follow this through in a few other sectors as well. Incentive schemes are one way to level the playing field in the short term, as far as cost disabilities are concerned. A more durable solution would be to rekindle the mantras that sparked India's path to a higher trajectory of economic growth 1991 onwards. Creeping cost of regulation for manufacturing - from licences to tariffs to mandatory testing and product certification - needs a thorough audit and review. For instance, the quality regime intended to prevent cheap, low-quality products from flooding our markets should be an enabler for genuine Indian manufacturing, rather than an obstruction. Quality control orders (QCOs) have a definite role to play in ensuring benchmarks for products finding their way into the Indian market. However, deepening the manufacturing value chain takes time. So, for raw materials and intermediate goods not readily available in India, rationalisation of QCOs is imperative. For starters, it is important to convince major manufacturers to make and export from India. A more graded approach to QCOs would go a long way towards achieving this objective. Participation of anchor players results in several advantages. They catalyse establishment and growth of cutting-edge tech in their respective sectors. Once they invest in such plant and equipment in India, they will also galvanise creation of a future-ready skilled workforce and vendor ecosystem that can operate and provide the input for such technologies. The announcement of NMM comes at an opportune moment. As global brands seek to relocate production to diversify sourcing and mitigate risks, India must ride the upswell of manufacturing opportunity that's bound to arise.
Mint
07-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
Centre mulls private sector leadership for National Manufacturing Mission
New Delhi: The Centre is weighing whether to appoint a private sector executive or a senior government official to lead the National Manufacturing Mission (NMM) , a programme aimed at reviving India's stalling manufacturing growth. One of the key conversations underway between the government policy think tank Niti Aayog and industry leaders is over the ideal profile of the NMM's chief—whether the mission would benefit more from bureaucratic experience or private-sector execution capability, two people aware of the matter said. Announced in the Union budget for FY26, the mission is part of a broader push to reposition manufacturing and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) as twin engines of the economic growth. The mission aims to not just boost industrial output but also reduce import dependence, support green manufacturing, and improve ease of doing business for small and mid-sized firms. Also read: Micro, small businesses shy away from state-run delayed payment resolution The finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman's announcement did not detail the implementation roadmap or total outlay for the mission, both of which are currently being worked out. Another issue under discussion is the mission's governance structure—specifically, whether it will include regulatory oversight to track the progress of participating firms. 'Given the scale and complexity of transforming India into a global manufacturing hub, the question of who leads the mission is not just procedural—it is strategic," said Vinod Kumar, president, India SME Forum, an MSME industry association. Kumar added that effective leadership would be key to aligning ministries, encouraging industry participation and resolving policy and infrastructure bottlenecks in real time. In her budget speech, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said manufacturing and MSMEs would be central to India's growth strategy in the coming years. The NMM is expected to provide targeted policy support and create execution roadmaps for small, medium and large manufacturing firms across priority sectors. Also read: Small businesses, startups adopting mediation in contracts: law minister Meghwal The push comes at a time when India's manufacturing share of GDP has stagnated at 15-17% for years, despite initiatives such as the Make in India programme and production-linked incentive schemes. 'The goal of the Make in India initiative was to raise the share of manufacturing in the country's economic output to 25% by 2022, a target that has remained unmet," a December 2024 report by KMPG said. Manufacturing contributed to 14% of the nominal gross value added in FY25, as per a statistics ministry statement on 28 February. The mission will also prioritize green manufacturing, with incentives aimed at expanding domestic production of solar PV cells, electric vehicle batteries, wind turbines, electrolyzers, grid-scale batteries and high-voltage transmission equipment. One of the mission's major components is supporting MSMEs, which account for about 30% of India's manufacturing output. There are over 60 million MSMEs registered on the government's Udyam portal, of which around 13 million are in manufacturing as of 6 May. MSMEs have long been a focus for the government, especially since the pandemic-induced slowdown in 2020. They also remain a large employment generator, with government estimates suggesting the sector supports over 200 million jobs. A Niti Aayog report earlier this week highlighted that India's MSMEs lack technological prowess and struggle with quality control for the products they make. They are also heavily dependent on credit and the lack of formal sources of credit has an adverse impact on their growth, the report published on 2 May said. 'Only 19% of MSME credit demand was met formally by FY21, leaving an estimated ₹ 80 lakh crore unmet," the report stated. Kumar also emphasized the need to ease regulatory burdens for MSMEs working in critical sectors such as energy, aviation, mobility and healthcare. Also read: Small firms fear new MSME definitions favour giants, cry foul To address both competitiveness and sustainability, the government is also developing a 'green MSME" scheme, aimed at helping small manufacturers decarbonize through targeted incentives, Mint reported on 6 January this year. Policy urgency around NMM has also been shaped by global trends, including tariff wars and shifting supply chains, as countries double down on domestic capacity to reduce import dependence. India, too, is trying to reposition itself as a global alternative to China in key sectors.
Hindustan Times
05-05-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
Stakeholders seek senior minister as head of NMM
Several stakeholders have suggested that an influential senior minister should head the ambitious national manufacturing mission (NMM), which aims to boost the Make in India initiative in the micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) sector, people aware of the matter said. At a meeting with various stakeholders, including industry groups, held last month, Niti Aayog received several suggestions on the mission, particularly its organisation structure. Three functionaries, who attended the April 24 meeting chaired by Niti Aayog CEO BVR Subrahmanyam, told HT that industry leaders suggested that an influential minister should lead the NMM. 'Many of us suggested the Niti Aayog CEO that a powerful and senior minister should head the mission as the government needs to coordinate with other ministries and state governments,' one of the participants said, requesting anonymity. Another participant said the leadership of the mission is 'a critical issue' as the government wants manufacturing sector to contribute to nearly 25% of the GDP in the next 10 years. The national manufacturing mission was first announced in the 2025-26 Union Budget to boost the Make in India initiative. The mission aims to increase manufacturing's share in India's GDP and will focus on key areas like ease of doing business, workforce development, MSME support, technology advancement, and product quality. It will 'drive growth of 20-30 select industrial parks', 'facilitate improvement of overall manufacturing environment of the country' and 'regularly identify and drive and identify next wave of growth,' a Niti Aayog presentation on NMM said. A large number of industry bodies such as CII, FICCI, ASSOCHAM and FISME as well as other stakeholders attended the April 24 meeting to prepare the ground for the new mission. In its presentation, Niti Aayog, the country's apex policy think tank, highlighted a case study on China and how it became the global powerhouse in manufacturing. Days after the meeting, the Centre last week formed an inter-ministerial committee, led by the Niti Aayog CEO, to make plans for the NMM. In its meeting with stakeholders, the policy think tank identified five key areas—boosting global value chain participation, developing plug and play facilities, promoting clean tech manufacturing, industrial workers' housing and reducing compliance burden. The NMM will try to strengthen India's presence in global value chains (GVCs), particularly in electronics, chemicals, and automotive sectors, establish plug-and-play facilities to reduce operational delays and lower costs, enhance manufacturing competitiveness, position India as a leader in clean tech products manufacture with sustainable industrial growth aligning with net-zero commitments, address the housing needs of a growing manufacturing workforce and simplify regulations and streamline compliance to lower manufacturing costs and enhance ease of doing business. India's manufacturing sector is projected to grow from $500 billion in 2024 to potentially $4 trillion by 2035 under an optimistic scenario. The government maintained that the current state of manufacturing must be enhanced to attain a 25% contribution to GDP and NMM will pay a crucial role in development, overview and management systems for sector agnostic interventions. Niti Aayog's presentation underlined how China identified and prioritised areas and made a 'futuristic policy with heavy focus on next-gen growth areas' such as new advanced information technology, modern rail transport equipment, automated machine tools and robotics, aerospace and aeronautical equipment and new-energy vehicles and equipment. The presentation said that in China, 'output-driven key manufacturing performance indicators were clearly defined at the outset', 'all the performance indicators under MIC are output driven and clearly defined' and 'extensive baselining of current performance and target setting for 2036 and 2049 was performed.' It also highlighted that an 'empowered central authority drove execution'—a similar model is likely to be adopted in India.
