India's aim to become global manufacturing hub by 2047 requires focused strategy: Niti Aayog

New Delhi: India's aspiration to become a global manufacturing hub by 2047 will require a focused strategy that combines scale, competitiveness, innovation, and integration into global value chains, Niti Aayog said on Thursday.

The Aayog, in its report, titled 'Key sectors to position India as a Global Manufacturing Hub', said chemicals, textiles, telecom and network equipment, and solar PV manufacturing represent four distinct yet complementary pathways through which India can accelerate industrial growth, generate employment, enhance technological capabilities, strengthen self-reliance, and expand its presence in international markets.

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Together, these sectors capture the breadth of India’s manufacturing opportunity: from employment-intensive industries and foundational industrial inputs to advanced technology products and strategic sectors of the future, it added.

The report noted that a common theme emerging across all four sectors is that India possesses significant inherent advantages, including a large domestic market, a favourable demographic profile, an improving policy environment, growing infrastructure investments, and increasing global interest in supply-chain diversification.

"However, these strengths alone will not be sufficient to secure global leadership," it said.

Across sectors, the report said challenges such as import dependence on critical inputs, fragmented supply chains, infrastructure and logistics gaps, limited domestic value addition, technology constraints, and skill shortages continue to constrain competitiveness.

"Addressing these bottlenecks will require a coordinated approach involving the Union and state governments, industry, academia, financial institutions, and the broader innovation ecosystem," it said.

The Aayog noted that sectoral analyses also reinforce the importance of moving beyond assembly-led or low-value manufacturing towards deeper and more resilient value-chain participation.

In chemicals, the priority lies in strengthening domestic feedstock availability, developing integrated manufacturing clusters, and increasing downstream value addition, it added.

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Noting that the experiences of global manufacturing leaders examined in this report further highlight that sustained success is rarely the result of a single policy intervention, the Aayog said that, rather, it is achieved through long-term policy consistency, industrial clustering, infrastructure readiness, targeted incentives, investment in technology and skills, and strong linkages between domestic firms and global markets.

Releasing the report, Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Ashok Kumar Lahiri said: "India stands at a defining moment in its economic and industrial journey. As the nation moves forward with the vision of Viksit Bharat @2047, manufacturing will play a central role in shaping the country's future growth trajectory".

Across the world, Lahiri said the experience of every major industrial economy has demonstrated that sustained economic transformation is built on a strong and globally competitive manufacturing base.

He said manufacturing not only drives investment, innovation and exports, but also creates quality employment, raises productivity and strengthens linkages across multiple sectors of the economy.

For a country like India, Lahiri said, with a young workforce and a median age of around 28 years, a vibrant manufacturing sector offers the most effective pathway to harnessing its demographic dividend and translating it into broad-based and inclusive prosperity.

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