India’s role in global politics and economy is in a decisive phase. The progress made from here and the collaborations it forges with countries and people will determine India’s position as one of the global leaders.
Geopolitics and geoeconomics are drawing Asia, led by India, to the centre of global power relations. It indicates that the world wants India to play an important role – as a driver of global growth and sustainability and an influential voice in global governance. The international community has a greater appreciation of India and its global standing. Nations are looking to India for solutions to global challenges –climate change, cybersecurity, humanitarian disasters or combating extremism and terrorism. These unprecedented situations invite India to take the lead with its mantra of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vishwas, and Sabka Vikas (Cooperation of all, trust of all and growth of global community).
As the most populous and successful democracy, it believes in global democracy. The collective responsibility or partners in decisionmaking and strong leadership are the basic tenets of a democratic process. Much of India’s foreign policy outreach has been driven by the need to translate partnerships into benefits for key domestic initiatives such as Make in India, Skill India and Digital India, and agreements with key countries have reflected this requirement. For instance, the Make in India initiative has received a tremendous response, with some foreign countries allocating specific funds toward creating manufacturing hubs in India. The recent bilateral and multilateral agreements with many countries, for instance, outline a partnership in a large number of projects cutting across sectors.
India’s relations with countries ofthe neighbourhood and with majorpower centres have been consolidated.India has successfully remapped itsties with developed nations and theworld’s emerging regions, includingAfrica, Central Asia and West Asia.India’s global role is becomingmore evident in every multilateralforum.For the country moving on thepath of progress and humanity in theentire world, the Corona period cameas a major challenge. Indians foughtthis fight with great grit and patience.Due to the power of Indianentrepreneurs and scientists, thecountry is not dependent on anyoneor any country for vaccines. Instead,India was able to ship the vaccines tomany needy countries.
In the 75th Independence Dayspeech, Prime Minister NarendraModi said from Red Fort, “Startingfrom here, the entire journey of thenext 25 years, when we celebrate thecentenary of Indian independence,marks the Amrit period of creation ofa new India.”According to the InternationalMonetary Fund’s GDP figures releasedon September 2, 2022, India is now theworld’s fifth-biggest economy. Adecade ago, India ranked 11th amongthe largest economies. In its latestforecasts, the IMF shows India indollar terms on an annual basis thisyear is just behind the US, China, Japanand Germany. The Indian economy ispredicted to grow more than 7% in2022-23. Notably, the Indian stocksthis quarter has just seen a weightingrise to the second spot in the MSCIEmerging Markets Index, trailing onlyChina’s. “What happens in India hasa big impact, both in the region and inthe world,” Luis Breuer, IMF’s seniorresident representative to India, saidin a recent IMF podcast.
Partnerships
In this issue of Achiever’s World, wehave chosen UK and Luxembourg, toexplore the partnerships India hasforged and the prospects ofcollaboration. This is critical since eachof the two countries shares a specialrelationship with India. The politicaland economic growth of each of thesecountries and India’s crucial role overthe next few years in contributing totheir development will also determinethe status of India in the world.Strong ties of history and culturebind India and UK. India has amultifaceted bilateral relationshipwith the UK Trade and investment areamong the most impor t a n tunderpinnings of our bilateralrelations. The private sector’scontinued involvement in bothcountries builds stronger linkages.India-Luxembourg enjoys close, warm and friendly ties rooted in ashared commitment to democraticvalues, the rule of law and commitmentto development. The connections arecharacterized by a high degree ofunderstanding and appreciation ofeach other’s concerns and interests.
India’s potential in the global market
India’s pharma industry is the fifthlargest export contributor, havingtouched $ 25 billion in March 2022. So,it was natural that the Indian pharmasector demonstrated utmost positivityamidst adversity caused by the Covidpandemic by ensuring the success ofIndia’s massive vaccination drive andsupplying vaccines and medicines toover 200 countries.The government has alsoproactively developed schemes likethe Production Linked Incentive (PLI)for active pharmaceutical ingredients(APIs) and medical devices. UnionCommerce & Industry Minister ShriPiyush Goyal recently pointed out,«It›s extremely important that wefocus not only on our strengths in thegeneric sector but also ensure ourbackward and forward linkages. it’simportant that we try productdevelopment and break new ground…He spelt out three mantras to economicsuccess: Focus on innovation, Stress onquality and Work with the worldmarket. “International competitivenesswill be very important. It is importantto keep abreast of new developmentsand good manufacturing practices.”
Ayurveda
AYUSH sector was worth less than $3billion a decade ago; today, it is valuedat more than $ 18 billion. The Ministryof AYUSH has taken several steps toencourage a start-up culture intraditional medicines. India is atreasure trove of herbal plants from theHimalayas to Kerala and from Gujaratto West Bengal.In recent years, unprecedentedefforts have also been made to promoteexporting AYUSH products. Emphasishas been laid on mutual recognition ofAYUSH medicines with othercountries. India has signed more than50 MoUs with different countries inthe last few years. AYUSH experts in India are developing ISO standards in collaboration with the Bureau of Indian Standards. This will open ahuge export market for AYUSH inmore than 150 countries. FSSAI announced a new category, ‘AYUSHAahaar,’ in its regulations. This will greatly facilitate the products of herbal nutritional supplements. India has become a very attractive destination in terms of medical tourism for several countries. Keeping that in mind, there is a lot of investment potential in this medical tourism sector in traditional medicine. Prime Minister Modi has urged India to work towards ‘Heal in India’ and make it the biggest brand of this decade. India is likely to introduce a special AYUSH visa category. This will facilitate people to travel to India for AYUSHtherapy. WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine (GCTM) will beset up in Jamnagar. Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, Director-General World Health Organization (WHO), termed the centre a truly global project as 107WHO member countries have theircountry-specific governmental offices,meaning the world will come to Indiafor its leadership in traditional medicine.
Yoga
Yoga is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices. Yoga is India’s greatest legacy, its most glorious gift to the world. On December 11, 2014,the 193- member UN GeneralAssembly approved the proposal with a r e cord conse n sus o f 1 7 7co-sponsoring countries, a resolution to establish June 21 as the “International Day of Yoga”. In the present era, Yoga is popular worldwide because of its spiritua lvalues and therapeutic credentials. Also, its role in preventing diseases, promoting health and managing lifestyle-related disorders is revered globally. The speciality of this system is that it can be practised with other healthcare methods. Yoga has evolved as one of the promising and potential career domains over the past few decades,especially with the tide of globalizations weeping across the world. There is a great career scope for Yoga professionals in India and abroad. The awareness amongst people about the benefits of Yoga for a healthy mind and body has increased the prospects of Yoga as a lucrative business.
Textile & Khaadi
India has the unique advantage of the entire value chain for textile production present within the country vis-à-vis other competing nations that import fibre, yarn and fabric to meet their requirement for garment production. It has a large market, which is growing rapidly with affordable human resources. The availability of almost all types of raw materials, the existence of the total value chain, the young demography of India , t h e entrepreneurial mindset of industry leaders, continuous support of the government, technology gradation, focus on innovation and strong presence of support industries will help this sector grow at a healthy pace in a coming decade. Widely referred to as a change agent owing to its transformative powers, this industry alone can generate around 70 jobs in garmenting and an average of 30 jobs overall for every INR 1 crore (USD 132,426) invested as compared to 12 jobs created on an average in other industries. The government has approved the Setting up of 7 Pradhan Mantri Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel (MITRA) Parks with a total outlay of Rs. 4445 crores in 5 years. World-class Industrial infrastructure would attract cutting-edge technology/scale and FDI / local investment in the sector. PM MITRA Park will encompass all ‘5F’ components: Farm to Fibre; Fibre to Factory; Factory to Fashion; Fashion to Foreign. PM MITRA Park is envisaged to be located at sites with inherent strength for Textile Industry to flourish. PM MITRA Park will offer the opportunity to create an Integrated Textiles Value Chain right, from spinning, weaving, processing/ dyeing and printing to garment manufacturing etc., at one location and will reduce the logistics cost of the industry. It is intended to generate around one lakh direct and two lakh indirect employment per park. contribution to the growth of MSMEs globally while taking a leadership position in global exports.
Defence Services
India has launched several major initiatives to make the country selfreliant in Defence manufacturing. Atmanirbharta in Defence aims to enhance domestic manufacturing and make the country a net exporter in this field. A major impetus during planning and procurement of equipment for the Indian Army has been initiated; wherein there is an endeavour to support the emerging defence industry in the country. The country’s steelmaking giant, Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), a Maharatna PSU, has supplied the entire DMR grade speciality steel for the nation’s first indigenously built Aircraft Carrier INS Vikrant. These DMR grade plates have been developed by SAIL in collaboration with the Indian Navy and DMRL. This demonstration of India’s self-sufficiency (Atma Nirbhar) to produce an aircraft carrier warship will reinforce the country’s defence indigenization programs and ‘Make in India’ campaign. The government has taken several policy initiatives and reforms to promote indigenization and selfreliance in defence manufacturing under Atmanirbhar Bharat Mission in the defence sector. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has concluded a contract with Mahindra Defence Systems Limited for the procurement of 14 Integrated Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Defence Suites (IADS). The agreement with an Indian firm under the ‘Buy and Make (Indian)’ category of defence procurement is an impor t ant b oos t t o India’ s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ mission and provides a major fillip to the indigenous defence industry in technology development and production. India has enhanced FDI in Defence Sector by up to 74% through the Automatic Route and up to 100% by Government Route. Defence Products list requiring Industrial Licences has been rationalized, and most parts or components manufactured do not require Industrial License. The initial validity of the Industrial Licence granted under the IDR Act has been increased from 03 years to 15 years with a provision further to extend it by three years on a case-to-case basis. Defence Investor Cell (DIC) has been created in the Ministry to provide all necessary information, including addressing queries related to investment opportunities, procedures and regulatory requirements for investment in the sector. Under the ‘Strategic Partnership (SP)’ Model, global entities can set up long-term strategic partnerships with Indian entities through a transparent and competitive process, wherein they would tie up with global Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to seek technology transfers to set up domestic manufacturing infrastructure and supply chains.
Satellite
ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation), in collaboration with the private sector, will boost “Atmanirbhar Bharat. The decision to create Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) will provide a level playing field for private companies
and Start-Ups. 10 (Ten) in-orbit operational communication satellites have been transferred from the Government of India to M/s. New Space India Ltd (NSIL), a CPSE under the Department of Space. The government has taken several steps to increase India’s share in the global space market through reforms, which seek to augment the space sector in the country with greater participation of Non-Governmental Entities (NGEs). As a part of these reforms, NSIL has been mandated to task the building of launch vehicles through Indian Industry and launch as per satellite customer requirements. The proposed space activities include Small Satellite Launch vehicles, Geospatial services, Satellite Constellation, and Application products. The move to open the Space sector for private participation was a path-breaking step taken by Prime Minister Modi and has been widely welcomed by leading private players across the country. Increased participation of private players will also discourage the brain-drain of talented Space scientists and experts who were otherwise moving out of India in search of a break. In the last six years, the applications of Space technology have been extended to different areas of infrastructure development and to bring the common citizen ease of living. Today, space and satellite technology is extensively used in railways, road and bridge construction, agriculture, housing, telemedicine, etc., besides disaster management and accurate weather forecast. The global space economy is currently valued at about $ 360 billion. Despite being among a few spacefaring nations in the world, India accounts for only about 2% of the space economy. Over the last two decades, the private sector has played an increasingly important role in other spacefaring countries within the global space economy. Private companies have been provided with a level playing field in satellites, launches and space-based services. Future projects for planetary exploration and outer space travel will open to the private sector. Future projects for planetary exploration, outer space travel etc., will be open to the private sector. A shift in space-related activities in the country will get an impetus by adopting a “Demand Based Model” from the earlier “Supply Based Model”. With the creation of IN-SPACe, a mechanism has been put in place, and the private sector is now allowed to use ISRO’s facilities and other relevant assets to improve their capacities. With the operationalization of IN-SPACe and the progressively evolving regulatory environment, greater private sector participation in end-to-end space activities is expected. This may increase India’s share of the global space economy.
Electronics
Correct policies, steady investments, job creation and a strong preference for trust in Global Value Chains present an unprecedented – never before opportunity for India in Electronics Sector to position itself as a major player in the global market. The domestic market is expected to increase from $65 billion to $180 billion over the next five years. This will make electronics amongst India’s 2-3 top-ranking exports by 2026. Exports of $300 billion are expected to increase from the projected $15 billion in 2021-22 to $120 billion by 2026. The five-part strategy to reach the $300 billion goal, based on an “all of the government” approach, sharply focuses on broadening and deepening electronics manufacturing in India. This is by building competitiveness and scale by attracting global electronics manufacturers/brands, shifting and developing subassemblies and component ecosystems, creating a design ecosystem, nurturing Indian champions and steadily removing cost disabilities faced by India. The $300 billion electronics manufacturing comes on the back of the $10 billion PLI Scheme announced by the government to propel the Semiconductor and Display ecosystem forward. The government has committed nearly $17 billion over the next six years across four Production Linked Incentive schemes (PLI) for Large Scale Electronics Manufacturing– Semiconductors and Design, Smartphones, IT Hardware and Components.
Telecom & IT Services
India is poised to become a design and manufacturing hub for telecom and networking equipment. Production Linked Incentive scheme in the telecom sector was launched in 2021. A total of 31 companies are beneficiaries of manufacturing various telecom equipment under the PLI scheme. To promote the entire value chain in telecom manufacturing, Design-led PLI was launched in June 2022. It provided an additional incentive of 1% over and above the existing incentives for products designed in India. The application window was open from June 21 till August 25, 2022. A total of 32 companies (22 MSMEs, 5 Non- MSME Domestic and 5 Global) have submitted applications. 17 of these 32 companies have applied as Design-led manufacturers, and the remaining as production-linked manufacturers. It is heartening that 18 new companies have submitted applications.
Manufacturing
Major reforms/measures to boost the manufacturing sector in the country and to make India a favoured manufacturing and investment destination have been taken by India. Some of them are the Production- Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme in 14 key sectors under the aegis of Aatma Nirbhar Bharat for enhancing India’s manufacturing capabilities and exports. PM Gati Shakti- National Master Plan (NMP) is an integrated GIS-based plan depicting the economic zones and the multimodal connectivity infrastructure to holistically integrate the interventions of various Ministries / Departments and address missing gaps to ensure seamless movement of people, goods & services. Most sectors/activities are open for 100% FDI under the Automatic route. The policy on FDI is reviewed on an ongoing basis to ensure that India remains an attractive & investor friendly destination.
Infrastructure
Public Private Partnership in Infrastructure has been an important sector investment source. As per the database of the World Bank on private participation in infrastructure, India is ranked second among developing countries both by the number of PPP projects and the associated investments. The Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee (PPPAC), which is responsible for the appraisal of PPP projects, has cleared 66 projects with a total project cost of Rs 137218 crores from 2014-15 to 2020-21. The government launched the Viability Gap Funding (VGF) scheme to provide financial assistance to financially unviable but socially / economically desirable PPP projects; up to 20 per cent of the project cost is funded under this scheme as a grant. To achieve a GDP of $5 Trillion by 2024-25, India needs to spend about $1.4 trillion over these years on infrastructure. Keeping this objective in view, National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) was launched with a projected infrastructure investment of around 111 lakh crore ($ 1.5 Trillion) during 2020-2025 to provide worldclass infrastructure across the country. NIP was launched with 6,835 projects, which has expanded to over 9,000 projects covering 34 infrastructure sub-sectors.
Energy
The government has taken multiple path-breaking initiatives in the power sector. These reforms have transformed the industry, focusing on making affordable power available for all. Electrification of about 18,000 villages which did not have access to power earlier signified the government’s commitment to ensuring last-mile outreach. Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is committed to achieving 500 GW of installed electricity capacity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030. The Ministry of New and Renewable energy has constituted a committee to prepare a roadmap to achieve 500 GW of non-fossil fuelbased energy capacity by 2030. The committee includes representations from important agencies dealing with renewable energy & electricity. A total of 152.90 GW of renewable energy capacity projects (including large hydro) have been installed in the country as of 28-2-2022, which includes 50.78 GW from solar power, 40.13 GW from wind power, 10.63 GW from Biopower, 4.84 GW from small hydropower and 46.52 GW from large hydropower. Further, projects of 72.61 GW capacity are under various stages of implementation, and 21.11 GW capacity is under different stages of bidding. India has also started to offer consultancy on energy, especially renewable energy
Agriculture & Food Processing
India has created the necessary ecosystem of exports along with collaboration with key stakeholders in the agri-exports value chains. It aims to boost India’s agricultural and processed food exports. The rise in the export of agricultural and processed food products is the outcome government’s various initiatives taken for the export promotion of agricultural and processed food products, such as organizing B2B exhibitions in different countries, exploring new potential markets through product-specific and general marketing campaigns by the active involvement of Indian Embassies. The government has also taken several initiatives to promote product s having registered geographical indications (GI) in India by organizing virtual Buyer Seller Meets on agricultural and food products with the United Arab Emirates and GI products, including handicrafts with the USA. To ensure seamless quality certification of products to be exported, the government has recognized 220 labs across India to provide testing services to a wide range of products and exporters.
For the year 2022-23, an export target of $ 23.56 billion has been fixed by APEDA for the agricultural and processed food products basket. India’s agricultural and processed food products exports went up by 31 per cent to $ 7408 Million in the first three months of the current fiscal (2022-23) compared to the same period last year.
