Stakeholders seek senior minister as head of NMM

SEveral stakeholders feature suggested that an influential senior government minister should head up the challenging subject manufacturing mission (NMM), which aims to boost the Make in India initiative in the micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) sector, people aware of the matter said.At a meeting with various stakeholders, including industry groups, held last month, Niti Aayog received several suggestions on the mission, particularly its organisation structure. Three functionaries, who attended the April 24 meeting chaired by Niti Aayog CEO BVR Subrahmanyam, told HT that industry leaders suggested that an influential minister should lead the NMM. “Many of us suggested the Niti Aayog CEO that a powerful and senior minister should head the mission as the government needs to coordinate with other ministries and state governments,” one of the participants said, requesting anonymity.Another participant said the leadership of the mission is “a critical issue” as the government wants manufacturing sector to contribute to nearly 25% of the GDP in the next 10 years. The national manufacturing mission was first announced in the 2025-26 Union Budget to boost the Make in India initiative. The mission aims to increase manufacturing’s share in India’s GDP and will focus on key areas like ease of doing business, workforce development, MSME support, technology advancement, and product quality.It will “drive growth of 20-30 select industrial parks”, “facilitate improvement of overall manufacturing environment of the country” and “regularly identify and drive and identify next wave of growth,” a Niti Aayog presentation on NMM said.A large number of industry bodies such as CII, FICCI, ASSOCHAM and FISME as well as other stakeholders attended the April 24 meeting to prepare the ground for the new mission. In its presentation, Niti Aayog, the country’s apex policy think tank, highlighted a case study on China and how it became the global powerhouse in manufacturing.Days after the meeting, the Centre last week formed an inter-ministerial committee, led by the Niti Aayog CEO, to make plans for the NMM.In its meeting with stakeholders, the policy think tank identified five key areas—boosting global value chain participation, developing plug and play facilities, promoting clean tech manufacturing, industrial workers’ housing and reducing compliance burden.The NMM will try to strengthen India’s presence in global value chains (GVCs), particularly in electronics, chemicals, and automotive sectors, establish plug-and-play facilities to reduce operational delays and lower costs, enhance manufacturing competitiveness, position India as a leader in clean tech products manufacture with sustainable industrial growth aligning with net-zero commitments, address the housing needs of a growing manufacturing workforce and simplify regulations and streamline compliance to lower manufacturing costs and enhance ease of doing business.India’s manufacturing sector is projected to grow from $500 billion in 2024 to potentially $4 trillion by 2035 under an optimistic scenario. The government maintained that the current state of manufacturing must be enhanced to attain a 25% contribution to GDP and NMM will pay a crucial role in development, overview and management systems for sector agnostic interventions.Niti Aayog’s presentation underlined how China identified and prioritised areas and made a “futuristic policy with heavy focus on next-gen growth areas” such as new advanced information technology, modern rail transport equipment, automated machine tools and robotics, aerospace and aeronautical equipment and new-energy vehicles and equipment.The presentation said that in China, “output-driven key manufacturing performance indicators were clearly defined at the outset”, “all the performance indicators under MIC are output driven and clearly defined” and “extensive baselining of current performance and target setting for 2036 and 2049 was performed.” It also highlighted that an “empowered central authority drove execution”—a similar model is likely to be adopted in India.