3D printing: Govt aims to add nearly $3 billion to GDP in three years

The government aims to capture five per cent of the global market share in additive manufacturing or 3D printing with expectations to add nearly USD 2-3 billion to the GDP in the next 2-3 years, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said Thursday.

Under the National Strategy on Additive Manufacturing, the government plans to create 50 India-specific technologies for material, machine, process and software to make India a 3D-printed design and manufacturing hub.

"The value of precision electronics is high. It is estimated to contribute USD 2-3 billion in GDP coming 2-3 years," Communications and Electronics & Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said while announcing the strategy.

The strategy aims to create 100 new start-up, 500 additive manufacturing products and 50 Indian additive manufacturing technologies on material, machine, process and software.

"We have taken some clearly defined goals in this strategy. We are targeting 50 new India-specific technology, 100 new start-up, 10 existing and new manufacturing sector, one lakh new skilled manpower," Vaishnaw said.

The 3D printing has a lot of scope in making artificial limbs, stents, dental crowns, parts of automobile and consumer goods, among others.

"We will find over a decade India has missed the bus on high-precision manufacturing. We are at the same stage as the rest of the world is. Additive manufacturing is critical in the overall tool kit that India has," Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said.

He added that the release of strategy is signal to the world that India is ready to build and lead in additive manufacturing space.

"We will explore the interest of industry and come up with steps to further encourage them," Chandrasekhar said.