Year 2023: Decoding Govt Policies In India's Growth Story

India, which is home to more than 1.3 billion people, has a sizable domestic market. Hence, several businesses are looking to set up shop in India to capitalise on the country's middle class and rising spending power. To promote and attract businesses, the central government has taken various steps to expand India's share in world commerce.

Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme
Modi government's PLI scheme for 14 important industries was started with an outlay of Rs 1.97 lakh crore to enhance India's manufacturing and export capacities in line with the country's aim of becoming "Atmanirbhar." Experts have said that the scheme has the potential to increase competitiveness on the international stage, draw capital to core competency and cutting-edge technology areas, guarantee efficiencies, generate economies of scale, boost exports and establish India as a crucial link in the global value chain.

As of November 2023, 746 applications have been approved. More than 150 districts (24 states) have PLI units. Up till September 2023, over Rs 95,000 crore in investments had been reported. This resulted in sales and production of Rs 7.80 lakh crore and the creation of over 6.4 lakh direct and indirect jobs. The increase in exports is Rs 3.20 lakh crore.

Startup India
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Startup India project, which was introduced on 16 January 2016, has developed into a platform for ideas and innovation throughout the nation. Under the Startup India initiative, several programmes have been put into place over time to assist entrepreneurs, develop a strong startup ecosystem and make India a nation where people create jobs rather than just look for them.

The government has invested around Rs 10,229 crore in 129 alternative investment funds (AIFs) under the Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS) scheme. The AIFs have invested a total of Rs 17,272 crore in 915 companies and 192 incubators have been approved to receive a total of Rs 747 crore under the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS). Additionally, 1,579 businesses have received approval from the chosen incubators totaling Rs 291 crore.

Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) 
Aiming to promote open networks for all facets of the exchange of products and services over digital or electronic networks, DPIIT started the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) programme.

On November 23, over 6.3 million transactions were reported by ONDC in more than 600 cities. On the ONDC network, which spans more than 500 Indian cities and towns, there are over 2.3 lakh active merchants and service providers. 59 users are currently connected to the network. The merchants and service providers are dispersed throughout more than 500 locations, broadening the ONDC network's geographic reach.

One District One Product (ODOP)
By advocating for local products, ODOP seeks to promote balanced regional development throughout all of the nation's districts. The ODOP portal features over 1,200 products that have been identified from 767 districts nationwide; many of these products are also sold on GEM and other e-commerce platforms.

Make in India has accomplished a great deal since its inception, and with the start of Make in India 2.0, it is currently concentrating on 27 areas. While the Department of Commerce is in charge of coordinating action plans for 12 service sectors, DPIIT is in charge of 15 manufacturing sectors.

Promoting Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) and Reducing Compliance Burden
As part of the reducing compliance Burden exercise and based on data uploaded on the Regulatory Compliance Portal, more than 3,600 compliances have been decriminalised and more than 41,000 compliances have been reduced by various ministries/ departments and states/ UTs. 

India has reported meteoric improvement in Ease of Doing Business Ranking from 142 in 2014 to 63 rank in the World Bank Doing Business 2020 report.

The Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2023 was passed by the Parliament. Through this Amendment Act, a total of 183 provisions are proposed to be decriminalised in 42 Central Acts administered by 19 ministries/departments.

PM GatiShakti National Master Plan (NMP)
In 62 Network Planning Group meetings held so far under PM GatiShakti (PMGS), more than 123 big-ticket infrastructure projects, worth Rs 12.08 lakh crore, have been examined on PMGS principles.

PM GatiShakti National Master Plan (NMP) has 1463 data layers today, belonging to 39 central ministries/ departments (585) and 36 states/UTs (878). Individual portals of 39 central ministries (infrastructure, social and economic) have been developed and integrated with NMP. 22 social sector ministries have been onboarded on PM GatiShakti with over 200 data layers mapped on NMP (like primary healthcare facilities, post offices, hostels, colleges, PVTG- particularly vulnerable tribal groups, etc). 

IPR Strengthening
Various policy and legislative reforms have been undertaken in the last nine years in the area of institutional strengthening and process digitalisation. India’s rank in the Global Innovation Index (GII) amongst 132 economies has improved from 81 in 2015 to 40 in the GII 2022 ranking and in 2023 India has retained its 40 position.