In News:

NITI Aayog has released the first volume of its study “Key Sectors to Position India as a Global Manufacturing Hub”, identifying 12 sectors where India can aspire to achieve global leadership by 2047. The study adopts a data-driven approach, assessing sectors on market potential, competitiveness and strategic relevance, along with infrastructure, technology, raw materials, policy support, employment potential and India’s position in global value chains.

The identified sectors are electronics, telecommunications equipment, solar photovoltaics, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, automobiles, defence and drones, steel, capital goods, textiles, food processing, and leather and footwear. The first volume examines chemicals, textiles, telecom and network equipment, and solar PV.

Key Findings

The report identifies significant scope for domestic value addition and import substitution. In chemicals, products such as phenol, methanol and acetic acid have been identified for reducing import dependence. In textiles, India is encouraged to shift towards man-made fibres, improve labour productivity and strengthen skilling to target $100 billion exports by 2029-30.

India’s telecom sector, with over 1.2 billion subscribers, requires deeper localisation, domestic component manufacturing, technology transfer and integrated industrial clusters. In solar PV, India had 106 GW installed capacity by March 2025 and needs about 174 GW more to achieve the 2030 target of 280 GW. However, the concentration of 97% of India's solar module exports in the US highlights the need for export diversification and greater upstream manufacturing of polysilicon and wafers.

Way Forward

NITI Aayog emphasisescluster-based manufacturing, integrated industrial parks, shared infrastructure, streamlined approvals and lower production costs. Other priorities include technology transfer, joint ventures, skill development, deeper domestic value chains and export-market diversification.

Importantly, the report stresses that manufacturing growth should be driven by profitability and private investment, rather than merely pursuing a higher manufacturing share in GDP. The government's role should primarily be to remove impediments and create a competitive business environment.

The approach therefore seeks to move India from subsidy-led manufacturing to commercially viable, globally competitive and value-added manufacturing, supporting employment, exports and India's ambition to become a global manufacturing hub by 2047.