Make in India

Make in India launched in 2014 with a goal of lifting manufacturing's share of the economy and cutting import dependence. Progress has been uneven across sectors, but electronics stands out: total production rose nearly seven-fold, from about ₹1.9 lakh crore in 2014-15 to ₹11.3 lakh crore in 2024-25 and an estimated ₹13.11 lakh crore in 2025-26, powered by a Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) push and a sharp rise in mobile-phone manufacturing.

Mobile phones are the flagship. In 2014-15 only about a quarter of phones sold in India were made here; today it is over 99%, and India is the world's second-largest mobile manufacturer with Apple, Samsung and others producing at scale. Mobile phone exports grew 165-fold, from ₹1,566 crore in 2014-15 to ₹2.60 lakh crore in 2025-26, when mobile phones became India's largest export product.

Make in India's main engine is the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme: instead of upfront subsidies, the government pays companies a percentage of their extra production over several years — so the reward only comes if they actually manufacture more in India. Rolled out across 14 sectors (electronics, pharma, autos, solar, steel and more) with about ₹1.97 lakh crore committed, it is paired with higher import duties and easier business rules to pull factories onshore.

The next phase is deepening manufacturing, not just assembling — moving from screwing together imported parts to making the components, and lifting manufacturing from about 17% of GDP toward a long-standing 25% goal. Electronics and defence are the clearest wins so far; the harder task is spreading that success to more sectors and to small firms, and competing with China on scale and cost.

₹1.9 → 13.11 lakh crore electronics production (2014-15→2025-26, estimate). ~7× growth. 99%+ of phones sold in India made here. 165× mobile phone export growth (2014-15→2025-26). Sources: MeitY via PIB.