Making ‘Make in India’ a green development project: A social cost-benefit analysis

‘Make in India’ is an initiative program of the Government of India to encouragemultinational and domestic companies to manufacture their products in India. It is aninternational marketing strategy, conceptualised by the Prime Minister of India, Sh. NarendraModi, to transform India into a global manufacturing hub. In this study, an effort has been madeto analyse this new investment project of Indian government. The main focus of the study is ondoing a social cost- benefit analysis of the ‘Make in India’ project. The benefits that Indianeconomy and Indian people will get, and also the costs in terms of natural environment thatwould be affected by this project, are discussed under this study. The inflow of foreigninvestments in India in the form of setting up of new manufacturing units will bring countlessbenefits for its people and economy as a whole, but at the same time they will certainly bringwith them several hidden costs that risks Indian natural environment resulting in deterioratedpeople’s health and ecological scarcities. India cannot afford such hidden costs as it alreadyrank slow (112th) on Social Progress Index as far as the Environmental Quality is concerned(Source: http://www.socialprogressimperative.org/). This social cost- benefit analysisconcentrates on identifying such hidden social and environmental costs of ‘Make in India’project and finally providing some suggestions/recommendations so that ‘Make in India’ canbecome a remarkable step in promoting a transition to a green economy.