IANS Interview: Next five years to give further thrust to local manufacturing, job creation, says Ashwini Vaishnaw

NEW DELHI: The simplifications around compliances via the ‘Make in India’ initiative under Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave local manufacturing a much-needed thrust in the last 10 years and the next five years will only take that vision forward across sectors, Union Railways and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Tuesday.

In a free-wheeling interview with IANS, Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the last decade saw a massive growth in local manufacturing with a robust push to exports, led by the electronics sector which has reached $100 billion while generating 12 lakh jobs.

“In the last 10 years, ever since PM Modi launched the ‘Make in India’ programme, he made several simplifications around compliances to bring about a big improvement in manufacturing. The results can be seen today. Look at the manufacturing growth in any sector, be it defence, textiles, electronics, chemicals, pharmaceuticals or others,” the Union Minister emphasised.

Manufacturing has emerged as a significant leader in almost every sector and has a key impact on employment.

“In electronics manufacturing alone, about 12 lakh new jobs have been created. Electronics manufacturing has reached about $100 billion. In mobile manufacturing, India has become one of the top two countries in the world and the way it is growing is phenomenal. The country will benefit greatly from this and employment will only increase in years to come,” Ashwini Vaishnaw elaborated.

As per the latest government figures, “the export of mobile phones has also increased from an estimated Rs 1,566 crore in 2014-15 to an estimated Rs 90,000 crore in 2022-23, making an impressive increase in exports by more than 5,600 per cent.”

The industry and the government are working to scale electronics manufacturing in India towards meeting the $300 billion goal and PM Modi 3.0 will cement this vision in the next five years.

The Union Minister said that in the next five years, this growth will emerge even more stronger because people have faith in PM Modi's policies, his way of working relentlessly and transparency.

“PM Modi’s clear focus is to make India a global manufacturing hub. There is a unified belief among people regarding that clear focus,” said Ashwini Vaishnaw.