India’s commercial capital is geared up for Make in India Week, a flagship event to provide greater momentum to the Make in India initiative, to showcase to the world the achievements of the nation in its manufacturing sector and to promote India as preferred manufacturing destination globally. Set against the vibrant backdrop of Mumbai, this week long calendar would offer unprecedented access, insights and opportunities to connect and collaborate with India and global industry leaders, visionaries, academicians, central and state administrations. Creating a confluence of policymakers, industry, entrepreneurs and academia to showcase, connect and collaborate, as well as highlight the people, policies and partnerships driving India’s new manufacturing revolution, the Week would spark a renewed sense of pride in India's manufacturing and take corporate and public participation to the next level. The Prime Minister has pitched the Make in India story to investors across the globe, and will inaugurate the marquee event which will host government delegation from 49 nations and business delegations from 68 countries during the Week. Speaking at the Curtain Raiser press conference in Mumbai the week-long event organized to showcase India's manufacturing prowess, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Commerce & Industry, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman said that "The government has incessantly pushed policy measures to boost manufacturing and today FDI in India is growing at 48 per cent while globally there is a sharp fall. The global business community has responded enthusiastically to Indian economy's revivalist fervour and Make in India Week will further showcase the nation's accomplishments in manufacturing and position India as investment, innovation and manufacturing hub."
Drawing the attention towards the Centre's view on States being partners to realize the nation's potential for achieving higher rates of growth and creating employment for masses, the Minister added that "States have a significant role in building and sustaining a manufacturing revolution and in the spirit of co-operative as well as competitive federalism they will be the drivers of development and centre will play a catalytic role." The capital city of host State of Maharashtra will witness a blitzkrieg of business events and investor summits. Emphasizing that the world has now started to recognise India as a trusted investment destination, Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis said that "India is poised to be the next big manufacturing destination." Some of the key government delegations would include Prime Minister led delegations from Finland, Sweden and Lithuania and Deputy Prime Minister led delegation from Poland. High level Government representatives are accompanied by large business delegations.
Speaking on the occasion, Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Government of India, Amitabh Kant highlighted that "In order to give further momentum to the initiative begun by the Prime Minister aimed at promoting India as a big investment destination and increasing its share in global foreign investment, Make in India Week will be the biggest such effort". Make in India Centre setup at MMRDA grounds in Mumbai to host the event would showcase exhibitions of the most innovative products and manufacturing processes across 11 sectors. The space in itself would be an avant-garde statement in design, merging the aesthetics of traditional craft with a futuristic vision. Make in India Centre would include sector specific pavilions showcasing 11 focus sectors of Make in India Week, 17 state exhibitions and several country pavilions. The Centre area would cover 2,20,000 sq. m and accommodates 27 halls. Country pavilion would include exhibitions from Sweden, Germany and South Korea. Over 190 exhibitors would showcase manufacturing prowess of the country across focus sectors.
The Week would also serve as a crucible of ideas and innovation with industry-academia interaction featuring manufacturing success stories. An exhibition on innovation, by the best of IIT, would be inaugurated by the Prime Minister at the Make in India Centre. Leading Institutions from the world over would come together and develop solutions to address problems in three important areas - Water, Transportation and Energy. As a celebration of the entrepreneurship spirit of India's youth and to catalyse start up community to drive the entire value chain from innovation to manufacturing in India, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion and Qualcomm India would organize India’s largest start-up contest “QPrize™ Make in India” awarding Rs. 2 Crore in equity investment as prize money for the winning company. As a forum on rethinking contemporary design practices against the backdrop of manufacturing and promoting India as a global centre of design, a conference on Empowering through design would be organised to bring together global design thought leaders
Key opportunities in sectors like auto, defence and aerospace, food processing, chemicals and petrochemicals, electronics and information technology, pharmaceuticals, textiles, industrial equipment manufacturing, construction equipment, and infrastructure will be showcased through 21 seminars conceptualized and led by the key Union Ministries. They will be addressed by Union Ministers, Think Tanks, Industry Leaders, Academic Institutions, and Industry Associations. Seminars will showcase investment opportunities in each sector, recent policy initiatives for attracting investments and ease of doing business. 12 State Investor Summits (Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Punjab, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamilnadu) will be held showcasing key sectoral strengths with reference to investment opportunities, steps undertaken by the State government to improve business environment, locational advantages, and industrial infrastructure availability.
In addition to the seminars, the highlights of Week include events such as CNN Asia Business Forum, Time India Awards, Driving Innovation: Hackathon, Make in India: The way forward, Conference on Empowering through Design, The Global Design and Innovation session and Champions for Societal Manufacturing. The Make in India Week will help forging enormous global engagement with Indian industry in the form of partnerships and investments paving the path for a transformation of the world’s largest democracy into the world’s most powerful economy.