Is Make In India Failing? | Case study
Executive Summary
Think School's case study asks the uncomfortable question straight: is Make in India failing? The scoreboard against its own four objectives: manufacturing growth was targeted at 12-14% a year but hit that band only in 2015 and turned minus 2.4% in 2019; exports nearly doubled from $37.45 billion (2014) to $776.68 billion (2023) but the goal was manufacturing-led exports, not just exports; gross FDI inflows rose from $46 billion to $71 billion while gross disinvestment rose faster, from $13.6 billion to $44.4 billion - more money is leaving; and against the aim of 100 million manufacturing jobs, India has barely 18.5 million. The diagnosis is not a party problem but a system problem: 'no matter which party is in power, if we don't solve these fundamental issues we will keep failing.' Why manufacturing matters: three superpowers services can't match - employment for everyone from engineers to uneducated clerks (manufacturing employs 45 million versus services' ceiling at the skilled), easy scalability for exports, and economic resistance. The blockers, with receipts: ease of doing business (every file needs four or five signatures; setting up operations takes 1.5 to 5 years), environmental clearances blocking infrastructure, land acquisition disputes that pushed POSCO out after a decade, 70% of central infrastructure projects delayed and running 41 months behind on average (as of August 2022), Bharatmala costs revised to Rs 32 crore per kilometre with completion slipping from 2022 to 2027, trucks averaging 20-40 km/h, containers spending 22 days at depots versus Vietnam's 9, and a skills gap where only about 2% of the workforce is formally skilled against South Korea's 96%, Japan's 80%, China's 40% and even Vietnam's 12%. The Tesla saga - five years of tweets, no factory - as the standing symbol. The fixes offered: solve ease of doing business, land banking for acquisition, and skills.
Key Takeaways
The four-objective scoreboard: missed, missed, mixed, missed
Growth: 12-14% manufacturing growth hit only in 2015, minus 2.4% in 2019. Exports: nearly doubled to $776.68B by 2023, but not manufacturing-led as intended. Investment: FDI inflows up to $71B but disinvestment up faster to $44.4B. Jobs: 18.5 million against the 100 million target.
Manufacturing's three superpowers
Employment across every skill level (an engineer and an uneducated clerk both get jobs), scalability for exports (scaling a service company is far harder), and economic resistance - the reasons no large economy has risen on services alone.
The file with five signatures: ease of doing business
Even today India is a very difficult place to do business: multi-signature file processes, and 1.5 to 5 years just to set up operations including land, clearances, construction and permits. The Tesla story - a 2019 tweet, five years, no factory - is the case study inside the case study.
Land and clearances: where projects go to die
POSCO scrapped its project and left India after more than a decade of land-acquisition struggle. 70% of central infrastructure projects are delayed; as of August 2022 they ran 41 months behind on average - nearly three and a half years per project.
Logistics math that quietly taxes everything
Trucks average 20-40 km/h on Indian roads; shipping containers spend 22 days at depots against Vietnam's 9 - a 13-day difference that adds billions of dollars in transportation cost. Bharatmala's per-kilometre cost was revised up to Rs 32 crore with completion pushed from 2022 to 2027.
The skills gap is the deepest hole
Only about 2% of India's workforce is formally skilled, against 96% in South Korea, 80% in Japan, 40% in China and 12% even in Vietnam. Skill India has not moved the number - and without it, the 100-million-jobs dream stays arithmetic fiction.
A system problem, not a party problem
The video's central frame: the Indian system itself carries the 'viruses' causing the failure, and no matter which party is in power, unsolved fundamentals mean repeated failure. The right question is not whether one party succeeded but what the system must fix.
The Conversation Breakdown
The promise and the audit
⏱ Untimed topicMake in India's 2014 ambition - global manufacturing destination, 12-14% growth, manufacturing share of GDP from 15% to 25% - audited against a decade: growth missed, exports up but not as intended, FDI up but disinvestment up faster, jobs at 18.5 million of 100 million.
Why manufacturing is worth fighting for
⏱ Untimed topicThe three superpowers - mass employment across skill levels, export scalability, economic resistance - and why services alone cannot lift a billion-plus economy past the poverty line.
The doing-business wall
⏱ Untimed topicFour or five signatures per file, 1.5 to 5 years to set up operations, Tesla's five-year courtship with no factory, and the vendor-ready capability India already has waiting on the other side of the paperwork.
Land, clearances and the 41-month average
⏱ Untimed topicEnvironmental clearances blocking infrastructure, land-acquisition legal disputes, POSCO's decade-long exit, 70% of central projects delayed and running 41 months behind, Bharatmala's cost and schedule blowout, and the bullet train stalled by a change of government.
Roads, ports and the 2% skills floor
⏱ Untimed topic20-40 km/h trucks, 22-day container dwell times versus Vietnam's 9, ports stuck in the same clearance trap, the skills table (2% India, 96% Korea, 80% Japan, 40% China, 12% Vietnam), and the closing prescription: ease of doing business, land banking, and skilling.
Core Frameworks & Ideas
Objectives-to-scoreboard auditing
The video's method: take a policy's own stated objectives (growth rate, export mix, investment, jobs) and grade it strictly against them - no vibes, no intent credit. A decade later, the verdict comes from the gap between promise and measurement.
Employment-scale-resistance: the manufacturing test
Three questions to ask of any sector strategy: does it employ people at every skill level, does it scale for exports, and does it make the economy resistant to shocks? Services fail at least one; manufacturing passes all three.
System over party diagnosis
Separating governance failures (land law, clearances, logistics, skills) from political scorekeeping: the frame insists these persist across governments, so the fix is institutional reform - land banking, single-window clearance, skilling - not electoral change.
Actionable Next Steps
- ✓Students and citizens: when judging any national program, pull its original objectives and grade the results against them - the video's four-objective audit is the template.
- ✓Founders and operators: factor India's real setup costs into plans - 1.5 to 5 years for land, clearances and permits - and watch land-banking and single-window reforms as leading indicators.
- ✓Policy watchers: track the three numbers that would prove a turnaround - manufacturing share of GDP, project-delay averages, and the formally-skilled workforce percentage (2% today).
- ✓Anyone debating Make in India: argue over the scoreboard numbers, not the slogan - and hold every party to the same system-level fixes the video lists.
Notable Quotes
“not whether BJP has succeeded or not but”
“resistance are the three superpowers”
“were running behind by over 41 months”
“would be shocked to know that only 2% of”
The One Thing to Remember
Make in India's failure is systemic, not political: until land acquisition, clearances, logistics speed and skills are fixed, no government will hit the manufacturing-jobs dream - the video's closing prescription is land banking, ease-of-business reform and skilling.