Wednesday, March 11, 2020

What is the current state of the manufacturing sector in India and how does the Indian manufacturing sector compare with the rest of the world?

As per the world bank data, the world manufacturing output, value-added (in current US$) stood at 14.17 trillion US$ in 2018. And India's manufacturing output, value-added (in current US$) stood at 403.05 billion US$. In other words, India's manufacturing output, value-added (in current US$) was 2.84% of the world's manufacturing output, value-added (in current US$).

China, which has come to be known as the world's factory contributed nearly 28.25% to the world's manufacturing output, value-added (in current US$). Overall, Chinese manufacturing output, value-added (in current US$) stood at nearly 4.003 trillion US$ in the year 2018. The Chinese nominal GDP in 2018 was 13.608 Trillion US$ (Current US$). Therefore, manufacturing contributed nearly 29.42% to the Chinese economy. Chinese exports were 19.51% of the Chinese GDP. Or in other words, China exported approximately 2.655 trillion US$ worth of Goods.

Here is a chart showing the top 10 countries by share of world manufacturing output in 2018:



As can be seen from the above chart, the Chinese manufacturing output was nearly 10 times the Indian manufacturing output in 2018.

With nearly the identical population size, China has clearly taken a massive lead over India when it comes to the manufacturing sector.


And since 2014, India's manufacturing output has slowed down considerably. While from 2004 to 2014, India's manufacturing output grew at a CAGR of 10.59%. And since 2014 when the Make in India program was launched, the manufacturing output grew at a CAGR of 7.02%.

During the same period, the Chinese manufacturing output grew at a CAGR of 17.68% from 2004 to 2014. And since 2014, the Chinese manufacturing output grew at a CAGR of 5.89%.

The Chinese manufacturing output has slowed down from the period of 2004 - 2014 to 2014 - 2018 because of rising wages in China. It is clearly understandable.

However, what explains the slowing down of India's manufacturing output from the period of 2004-2014 to 2014-2018? While Chinese manufacturing is slowing down due to rising wages in China, other emerging countries like Bangladesh, Vietnam, etc. have grabbed the opportunity to boost their manufacturing output. And India has lagged behind because of a lack of preparedness.

The government of India launched the Make in India program in 2014. However, the program just focused on top-down manufacturing approach. The automotive industry nearly contributes about 50% to India's domestic manufacturing output. However, automotive manufacturing is a top-down manufacturing approach. A large automotive company sets up a plant in India after assessing the demand and the size of the Indian market. Thereafter ancillary component manufacturing companies come up to supply different components to the automotive company. This approach is known as top-down manufacturing approach. Robots and high-tech machinery are used in this kind of manufacturing to produce final products. Therefore, employment generation is not high in this kind of manufacturing approach.

The Make in India program failed to focus on the bottom-up manufacturing approach. And no wonder, India's manufacturing output growth has slowed down since 2014. Simple common household goods are not manufactured in India. Instead, these goods are sourced from China. Indian entrepreneurs are becoming traders and not manufacturers. Simple common household goods such as Diwali Lights, Toys, Electrical items, electronic items, etc. that are consumed on a daily basis are not manufactured in India. No big company will make these products. Only a startup entrepreneur can manufacture these goods. However, there is no policy framework or manufacturing infrastructure to support this kind of bottom-up manufacturing in India. And no wonder, Indian entrepreneurs do not manufacture these simple common household goods in India.

It is high time the Make in India Program focuses on bottom-up manufacturing to boost manufacturing output in India. Given the population size in India, the Indian manufacturing output shall be close to 2 trillion US$ and not 400 billion US$. The focus on bottom-up manufacturing will not only generate employment on a large scale but also boost India's consumption and exports thereby giving a fillip to India's sagging economy.

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