‘Start-up ecosystem should not just focus on services but also products in manufacturing sector’: DPIIT Secretary

The start-up ecosystem should not only focus on services but also on products in the manufacturing sector, according to Amardeep Singh Bhatia, Secretary of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). 

Speaking at the Confederation of Indian Industry Manufacturing Summit on Tuesday, Bhatia emphasized the potential for start-ups to tap into manufacturing opportunities and called for industry support in this area. Bhatia also highlighted the importance of connecting start-ups with research, noting that there is significant funding available for innovation. He expressed concern about technology dependence on foreign countries and called for collaboration in this area. 

Additionally, Bhatia underscored the government's efforts to reduce regulatory burdens, promote deregulation, and lower the cost of doing business.

He said, "Regarding deregulation, I don't believe the business industry is fully aware of this, but there is a task force chaired by the Cabinet Secretary. This task force includes secretaries from various departments and they are implementing specific interventions to reduce deregulation in factors such as land and labor. Additionally, the government is collaborating with state secretaries to support manufacturing. An extensive action plan has been developed for each state, and secretaries are meeting with state governments to provide guidance on moving towards further deregulation at the state level. This is in response to long-standing requests from the industry."
 
He also mentioned that in order to lower the cost of conducting business, several measures have been implemented, particularly focusing on reducing logistics expenses. A logistics policy has been established at the central government level to work in conjunction with state governments to lower logistics costs. Bhatia stated our goal is to bring down logistics costs to the global standards of 7-8%, or even lower, moving forward.
 
Bhatia also stated that production-linked incentive schemes will yield better results in the future. Many manufacturing units that were in the early stages of production will have stabilized their production, leading to increased exports and domestic sales. "PLI schemes in various sectors have shown promising results. As of March 2025, we have attracted Rs 1.61 trillion in investments, resulting in around Rs 14 trillion of production and contributing approximately Rs 5.31 trillion in exports, generating around 1.15 million jobs," he said.

Bhatia also stated that quality remains a major challenge for the manufacturing sector. "We have implemented quality control orders (QCOs) to encourage the industry to enhance the quality of products in the country." The industry should rely on domestic sources to address gaps in value chains and should leverage the domestic vendor ecosystem.