'Make in India' will not happen in a hurry

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to review his much-hyped 'Make in India' campaign on December 29. Has any progress been made thus far? There is little evidence in numbers - industrial production in October was 4.2 per cent lower compared to October 2013. Manufacturing shrank 7.6 per cent.

Government officials, however, insist there is lot of work happening in the background. At industry lobby FICCI's annual general meeting on Friday, where four government secretaries spoke, there were two takeaways for the industry - a) have patience b) temper your expectations.

Gauri Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment; G Mohan Kumar, Secretary of Defence Production; Rajeev Kher, Commerce Secretary; and Amitabh Kant, Secretary, DIPP, all laid out the work that has happened in recent months. The effort of all departments has been towards "making it easier to do business in India". Labour reform, foreign direct investment announcements and most recently, Goods and Services Tax (earlier this month, the Cabinet cleared the GST Constitutional Amendment Bill) were cited as examples of work done.

There are also no fresh 'tax terrorism' cases, but the government is saddled with what Kant called "legacy issues" - which is why it would take time for the reforms to show results in terms of investments and jobs creation. A fast-track mechanism to resolve disputes such as retrospective taxation is key to gaining back lost foreign investor confidence. There are also challenges around labour productivity, infrastructure, and now the exports market - economic activity is slowing in many regions of the world, including China.