Indian manufacturing sector: After clocking up a growth rate of above 9% for the second quarter in a row, India is on the way to becoming a ‘pivot’ for high-tech world manufacturing, according to UNIDO’s quarterly World Manufacturing Report, while global manufacturing growth as whole is expected to remain low at 2.8% for the year in 2016 thanks to weakened financial support for productive activities.
China’s manufacturing sector is likely to continue its decline from last year’s 7.1% to 6.5% in 2016, the report predicts, while Russia and the US recorded marginal rises in Q2 of 1% and 0.3% respectively. The uncertainty following the Brexit vote kept overall growth across Europe down to less than 1% for the first time since 2013.
Developing economies achieved higher growth in the textile, chemical and fabricated metal product sectors, while the pharmaceuticals and automotive industries fared better in industrialised countries.
The report appears to corroborate predictions made in an article published by McKinsey four years ago that rising domestic demand and a desire among multinationals to find low-cost production plants outside of China could see India’s manufacturing sector grow into a trillion-dollar industry by 2025, creating 90 million jobs in the process; last year, the Indian electronics and hardware market grew by 8.6% to reach $75bn.
The sector has also been boosted by a number of government initiatives, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi giving the electronics sector priority under the Make in India programme as well helping pump up demand through programmes such as Digital India, Smart Cities and the National Knowledge Network Initiative.
Indian manufacturing bucks global trends with 9% growth rate
Source: AKIpress