make in india mii a flagship initiative of prime minister naren dra modi elevates the revival of indian manu facturing as the engine of longterm growth it is aimed at promoting india as an investment destination and establishing it as a global hub for manufacturing design and innovation under the initiative 25 sectors have been identified for job creation and skill development these include automobiles chemicals it and business process management bpm pharmaceuticals ports railways roads and highways aviation leather tourism and hospitality wellness auto components renewable energy biotechnology electronics electrical machinery food processing media and entertainment mining oil and gas construction defence manufacturing space textile and garments and thermal power mii is based on four pillars first new processes are to be initiated to ensure ease of doing business second new infrastructure is to be put in place whereby the government is supposed to develop industrial corridors smart cities and worldclass infrastructure with stateoftheart technology and highspeed communication third new sectors such as medical services defence insurance construction and railway infrastructure are to be opened up for fdi finally new mindsets are to be created with the government acting as facilitator rather than regulator the opportunity historically the process of sectoral transformation has required economies to move from agriculture to manufacturing and then to services unfortunately this did not happen in india india jumped the transformational stage and moved directly to the servicedriven economy with over 50 of the gdp coming from services since the sustainability of this growth model is questionable the mii initiative promoting manufacturing has been launched however one may mention that rbi governor raghuram rajan believes more in a domesticdemand led growth path ie make for india rather than make in india it is widely believed that there is a huge opportunity for india at this point in time the international monetary fund too referred to india as a bright spot on the global landscapehowever formidable challenges exist basic infrastructure roads railways ports and power remains poor availability of skilled manpower is still dismal employment elasticity the percentage change in employment due to a percentage change in the gdp has weakened due to technological advancement and the world bank continues to rank india low at 142nd out of 189 on ease of doing business reaping the population dividend requires skill development on a massive scale employability is contingent upon knowledge and skills developed through quality education and training so education outcomes need to be improved as per the aser 2014 report basic reading continues to be disheartening as only 50 of class v students are able to read a class ii textbook an added cause of concern is the deceleration in the employment elasticity of growthfor instance in the 1990s a one percentage change in the gdp led to employment gener ation of about 035044 however during the post2000 period it dropped to 02 in such a scenario the need for selfemployment cannot be negated it is stated that micro small and medium enterprises msmes