Mallikarjun Kharge Criticizes ‘Make in India’ Initiative, Calls It More Publicity Than Delivery

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday took a sharp dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Make in India initiative, accusing the Modi government of failing to deliver on its promise of transforming India into a global manufacturing hub.

In a post on X, Kharge said, "Modi Govt's 'Make in India' is a classic case of giving importance to PUBLICITY rather than DELIVERY. In its 2014 Manifesto, the BJP made 10 promises to make India a "Global Manufacturing Hub", NONE of which have been fulfilled. The situation has become worse, with a massive decline of employment in manufacturing and share of manufacturing in the GDP. PSUs are being sold. MSMEs are suffering. Bureaucratic hurdles are the order of the day. Indian entrepreneurs are moving abroad and setting up companies there, instead of preferring India. Exports are in a free fall."

The Congress leader questioned the Modi government's handling of the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, asking if Phase 1 (worth Rs 1.97 lakh crore) was abandoned due to the failure of 12 out of 14 targeted sectors. He also criticized the decline in India's merchandise export share to a 50-year low under the current administration.

Modi Govt's 'Make in India' is a classic case of giving importance to PUBLICITY rather than DELIVERY.

In its 2014 Manifesto, the BJP made 10 promises to make India a "Global Manufacturing Hub", NONE of which have been fulfilled.

The situation has become worse, with a massive… pic.twitter.com/tQAaGWIjmQ

— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) March 22, 2025

Contrasting the BJP's performance with the UPA's, he claimed that India's economic growth was fastest under the Congress-led UPA, suggesting the "real Aatmnirbhar Bharat" existed during that period. The Make in India initiative, launched in September 2014, aimed to establish India as a leading global manufacturing hub.