Rangoli / Kolam, folk art from India
Photo by McKay Savage, available under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) license.

What is “Make in India”?

“Make in India” is a government initiative started in 2014 by India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, to encourage investment, foster innovation, and protect intellectual property.

One of its projects is the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), which is featured as one of the world’s most innovative infrastructure projects in KPMG’s ‘100 Most Innovative Global Projects’. DMIC’s vision is to project India as a global manufacturing destination by developing 24 manufacturing cities along a 1,483 km-long Dedicated Railway Freight Corridor (DFC).

Aside from DMIC, “Make in India” has also conceptualized other corridors, namely Bengaluru-Mumbai Economic Corridor (BMEC), Amritsar-Kolkata Industrial Development Corridor (AKIC), Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (CBIC), and East Coast Economic Corridor (ECEC).

How can entrepreneurs benefit from this?

New processes and new sectors are introduced as part of “Make in India” initiative.

The government aims to simplify existing rules, and introduce a single online eBiz portal as well as self-certification and third party certification under the Boilers Act. With reduced paperwork and an integrated online portal that operates on 24/7 basis, doing business in India will definitely become easier.

Foreigners are allowed to invest in India with some exceptions in prohibited sectors. Moreover, investors from Pakistan and Bangladesh will be monitored closely by the government.

Global responses

Since the initial launch in September 2014, “Make in India” has received positive responses from international companies. Samsung announced its plan to manufacture the Samsung Z1 series in Noida, and Lenovo’s Motorola Moto E (2nd generation) was manufactured in Flex’s plant in Sriperumbudur near Chennai. There will be more plants setup in Chennai: Hitachi’s auto-component plant, and Huawei’s Telecom hardware manufacturing plant.

Not only does it attract companies to set up new manufacturing plants in India, this initiative is also able to tempt large companies to move their manufacturing plants from China to India. China’s Xiaomi, teamed up with Taiwan’s Foxconn, will assemble Xiaomi Redmi 2 Prime in Sri City, state of Andhra Pradesh. Foxconn also announced a five-billion-dollar investment to build research facilities and manufacturing plants in the state of Maharashtra. There is speculation that Foxconn will use the plants to manufacture Apple’s product.

Investment requirements in India

In order to invest in India, foreigners can set up their own companies (private or public), or a joint venture with local partner. A private company requires a minimum of 2 shareholders, 2 directors and paid up capital of Rs.100,000 (approximately US$1,508), while a public company requires a minimum of 7 shareholders, 3 directors and paid up capital of Rs.500,000 (approximately US$7,537). Investment in financial markets is only allowed for Foreign Institutional Investors (FII).

About us

Healy Consultants Group is a global business solutions expert. To learn more about investing in India, visit Healy Consultants Group’ website or contact our experts directly at .

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