Twelve years after its launch, Make in India has evolved from a campaign to attract manufacturers into a broader effort to strengthen India’s industrial capacity. Launched on September 25, 2014, the initiative sought to position India as a global destination for manufacturing, design and innovation. Its impact is reflected in the expansion of electronics and mobile-phone production, indigenous defence manufacturing and railway coach production, while its next phase places greater emphasis on technology, skills and domestic capabilities.
When Make in India was unveiled in 2014, the objective was straightforward but ambitious: make India an increasingly attractive destination for investment and manufacturing while creating the infrastructure and capabilities needed to compete globally. Twelve years later, the initiative has expanded considerably, covering both manufacturing and services.
Make in India 2.0 now encompasses 27 sectors, including 15 manufacturing sectors and 12 services sectors. Its broader approach focuses on facilitating investment, encouraging innovation, improving infrastructure and simplifying processes and policies.
The transformation is particularly visible in electronics. Production in the sector has increased from around Rs 1.9 lakh crore in 2014-15 to more than Rs 13 lakh crore in 2025-26, representing nearly a seven-fold rise. Mobile-phone manufacturing has expanded even more sharply, climbing from about Rs 18,000 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 6.27 lakh crore in 2025-26.
The railway sector has also witnessed a substantial expansion in domestic manufacturing. Indian Railways produced nearly 55,000 coaches between 2014 and 2024. The average annual production of railway coaches increased from fewer than 3,300 during 2004-14 to more than 5,000 during 2014-24. In 2025-26 alone, more than 6,600 Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches were manufactured.
Defence production represents another major area of change. Indigenous defence production rose from Rs 46,429 crore in 2014-15 to a record Rs 1.78 lakh crore in 2025-26. The figure is nearly four times the level recorded at the beginning of the Make in India journey.
The initiative has also been linked with a policy philosophy centred on “Minimum Government, Maximum Governance”, with an emphasis on improving ease of doing business and modernising regulatory processes.
However, the evolution of Make in India is no longer simply about increasing the volume of goods manufactured domestically. Its current emphasis increasingly includes the ecosystem required to sustain production — skilled manpower, research, technology, supply chains and industrial capabilities.
The journey therefore represents a shift from attracting manufacturing activity to building deeper domestic capacity. As India marks 12 years of Make in India, the initiative's next phase is increasingly defined by the country's ability to design, develop and manufacture products with greater technological depth within the country.
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