Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday targeted the Modi government on the ‘Make in India’ scheme and claimed the BJP’s promise of making India a global manufacturing hub remains unfulfilled.

“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,” he said in a post on X. The Congress president claimed that 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,” he alleged. Posting two pointed questions, Kharge asked, “Has the Modi Govt wound up the Phase 1 of the much-hyped PLI Scheme worth Rs 1.97 Lakh Crore, after 12 out of 14 identified sectors failed to take off? Why has the share of merchandise in India’s total exports fallen to its lowest level in at least 50 years under Modi Govt?” The Congress president said it is a fact that it accelerated the fastest in Indian history under the Congress-led UPA. “Perhaps, Modi ji would now realise that the real ‘Aatmnirbhar Bharat’ was under the Congress,” he said in his post.  Kharge also cited media reports that claimed that the Modi government used less than 8 per cent funds allocated for manufacturing incentives as of October 2024 and has met only 37 per cent of production target.

 The reports  claimed that the share of merchandise in India’s total exports has fallen to its lowest level in at least 50 years.