Currently, India is the fifth largest economy in the world lagging US, China, Germany and Japan.
India is aspiring to become 3rd largest economy by another 4-5 years. However the lingering challenge here is the manufacturing sector which just contributes only 13% to GDP, lagging behind agriculture (15%).
Atmanirbhar Bharat ( self-reliant India) is a phrase the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and his government used and popularised in relation to the country’s economic development plans. Slogans initiated under Atmanirbhar Bharat include “vocal for local”, '“local for global”, “make for world” and "brain drain to brain gain.
He started using this phrase during the 2020 pandemic when he came out with an economic package to revive the economy. Then covaxin a-5 ml vaccine was born in India to vaccinate 1400 million people at a time when the world was facing acute shortage of Covid vaccine- a glowing example of Atma Nirbhar Bharat.
Then came the Galwan valley incident with China , after which china started arm twisting in all its supplies to India. Indians wete also hesitating to buy Chinese products and that is how a series of PLI schemes were born to become atma nirbhar Bharat in various sectors. Now the PLI scheme covers 14 sectors- an update on status of these 14 PLI schemes- link given below. The list does not include the PLI for Drone and PLI for Space sector which are the latest addition to the list of 14.
Modi Govt should get the credit for these PLI schemes and the early signs of results is already seen in some sectors though we still have a long way to go.
Atma Nirbhar Bharat is only a Hindi phrase , but nothing new though. Gandhi ji during pre- independence era started with the Swadeshi movement with charakha for textiles, Salt…He also started Swaraj (Self governance).Today we are self reliant in Textiles.
In 1970’s, Dr Verghese Kurien started white revolution in India called operation flood- Today is India is no 1 milk producing nation in the world.
Similarly, MS Swaminathan is known as the Father of Green Revolution in India. The basic approach was the development of high-yielding varieties of cereal grains, expansion of irrigation infrastructure, modernization of management techniques, distribution of hybridized seeds, synthetic fertilizers, and pesticides to farmers…Today we are self reliant on food grain production , though still the poorest of the poor still don’t get food is another issue to be tackled.
So how many sectors are we self reliant as of today - Atma Nirbhar Bharat?
India has achieved self-reliance or ‘atma nirbharta’ in textiles and clothing, Agriculture & food processing, Dairy & Animal husbandry, aquaculture, iron and steel, Aluminium, Biotechnology, defence manufacturing to a great extent.
We are amply self reliant in service sector like BFSI, Aviation , Transport- Road, rail, aviation ,Health Care , diagnostics, construction, IT services , Digitisation- no wonder our service sector contributes 50% to India’s GDP.
Some of the recent examples of self reliance on recent days are Maruti 800 car, Amul, HDFC, pharmaceutical companies Bharat Biotech and Serum Institute of India, have been considered examples of self-reliance in India. There may be many more…
Can we name other such examples ?
The five pillars of Atmanirbhar Bharat are economy, infrastructure, technology-driven systems, vibrant demography. Already , there is a lot of capex happening on infrastructure, Railway, Defence.
As mentioned earlier , for the economy to grow , the Elephant in the room is the manufacturing sector.The PLI scheme, conceived with the aim of overhauling domestic Manufacturing, seeks to amplify capacity and competence and create global champions. Its broader goals, include job creation, attracting substantial investments, enhancing exports, and positioning India as a global manufacturing hub. Its multiplier effects can lead to a potential surge in the manufacturing sector’s contribution to the GDP, and to a seamless integration of domestic firms into regional and global production networks.
So it is exciting to watch those companies participating in India’s PLI schemes and growth stories and we as investors would like to discuss and find opportunities for our investment in these PLI linked emerging sectors /stocks where the govt is likely to encourage especially if Modi 3 comes to power.
It is not to say that the other sectors are not worth investing. India is the youngest nation in the world with the economy growing by leaps and bounds , all sectors would be growing proportionate to GDP.
Here is a comprehensive list of PLI schemes plus other incentives / Subsidies for some 41 sectors published by the Govt from time to time.
you may please refer 4 th link in sequence below.
https://www.investindia.gov.in/production-linked-incentives-schemes-india