Open up FDI in other sectors; create 10 champion states that'll drive the India story: Amitabh Kant

Amitabh Kant

As Make in India entered its 10th year, Amitabh Kant's prescription for Make in India going forward includes speedy implementation of production linked schemes, early creation of new industrial town, opening up sectors like insurance for FDI.

"So first and foremost, I think the production linked incentive schemes must get fully implemented speedily. That's critical to be able to build an ecosystem for manufacturing across these 14 sectors. The second would be that we should push for the early creation of new industrial towns with plug and play facilities for industries, so that land parcels are made available for allocation. The third would be that states must push for greater ease of doing business in a very big way. That's very important. The fourth would be that I personally feel that the FDI regime should be opened up more in many other sectors, including insurance, etc. And we need to give it a far more vigour and energy and approach each one of those companies which has not invested. For fifthly, I would say that we need to push the national infrastructure pipeline in a very big way, because the more you push for infrastructure, the better it is," he listed out as his reform agenda for Make in India.

He added that the several new missions announced by the government including the AI mission, the semi conductor mission will be the cutting edge areas of growth. Iterating the need for private sector to step up investment in R & D.

"I would say that the new missions created by India, the national quantum mission, the AI mission, the semiconductor mission, and the green hydrogen mission will be the key driver in cutting-edge areas of growth. And the last point I want to make is that India needs to become a very innovative nation. That is very critical.

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The private sector investment on research and innovation is still very low as compared to other countries, and therefore the government putting in about a lakh of crores for research and innovation for sunrise sectors, that scheme needs to be now vigorously implemented, because that will make India a very innovative nation for the future as far as manufacturing is concerned. Innovation is the key, and our ability to push for innovation will also lead to bringing in a lot of more talent into India, and talent will then attract investments.”

On ease of doing business, Kant said that there is a need to review the current set of rules and regulations and look at them completely afresh. Decriminalisation of outdated rules and regulations and implementation of labour laws.

"Scrap, to my mind, all rules, regulations, procedures, which have been put in place. Look at them in a suo moto manner, completely afresh. Secondly, decriminalize all these outdated rules and regulations which have been put into place. Thirdly, implement the labour laws which have now been passed by the parliament, which are pending with the state governments, implement them on a very fast, rapid manner. And fourthly, I would say is that at least create 10 champions states, 10 champion states which will drive India's growth story. If India grows, if India has to grow at 9 to 10 percent, you need 10 states to grow at rates of 10 percent plus. So these 10 states would be very critical for India to be able to grow at high rates in the coming years. And it's very important that we have 10 champion states."

You can watch the full interview here: Amitabh Kant on India's mega manufacturing push and 10 years of Make in India