India’s registered factories employed an estimated 2.10 crore people in 2024–25, up from 1.96 crore a year earlier. The Annual Survey of Industries, released in September 2026, also recorded growth in output, capital and wages. These are substantial changes in working factories. They sit alongside a more restrained finding: manufacturing’s share of the wider economy has changed little. [4] [3]
Make in India was launched on 25 September 2014 to attract investment and make the country a manufacturing, design and innovation hub. Its appeal joined factories, jobs, infrastructure and simpler dealings with government. The programme’s name covered a broad policy effort, rather than one factory subsidy with a single measurable output. [1] [5]
An ambition inherited and renewed
The ambition to lift manufacturing’s economic weight preceded the campaign. The National Manufacturing Policy approved in October 2011 sought a 25% share of GDP by 2022 and 100 million additional jobs. Industrial townships, infrastructure and investment facilitation were already part of that earlier framework. [2]
After 2014, Make in India brought renewed attention to these goals. Later measures included procurement preferences, phased manufacturing programmes and Production Linked Incentive schemes. Union ministries administered sector-specific incentives, while state governments and firms supplied much of the land, investment and implementation. [5]
Growth and share measure different things
India changed the base year of its national accounts to 2022–23 in February 2026. In that revised series, manufacturing accounted for 14.7% of current-price total gross value added in 2022–23 and a provisional 14.8% in 2025–26. The statistics ministry itself said the available series did not indicate a significant change in the sector’s share. [3]
The same release reported strong growth in manufacturing GVA at constant prices. There is no contradiction: a sector can expand while the rest of the economy also grows. Current-price shares, inflation-adjusted growth and the older GDP target should not be treated as interchangeable measures or joined across different statistical bases. [3] [2]
Where expansion is visible
The latest factory survey reported employment growth of 7.19% in 2024–25 and a 9.59% increase in GVA. Its coverage is the registered industrial sector, rather than every workshop or manufacturing worker. The increase is an observed sector outcome, not a calculation of jobs caused by Make in India. [4]
PLI reporting provides a narrower administrative account. By December 2025, the commerce ministry recorded more than ₹2.16 lakh crore of investment and ₹20.41 lakh crore of cumulative incremental production and sales across 14 sectors. It reported 14.39 lakh direct and indirect jobs. Those totals cannot be added to annual manufacturing GVA or treated as a count of permanent factory payroll positions. [5]
The expanding factories and sector programmes give Make in India concrete results to examine. The national accounts keep the larger promise in view: more production has yet to produce a comparable shift in manufacturing’s share of the economy. [3] [4]