'Make in India' will yield results in minimum 18 months: Kant

The 'Make in India' programme will start yielding results on the ground in "minimum 18 months" while structural changes may take years, a top government official today said.
"Its too early. You see the programme was launched around September (2014). Its been 5-6 months. You are talking about structural changes. You are talking about scrapping processes, procedures. It is going to take years. I am telling you, you would not get benefits (soon)...," said Secretary in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) Amitabh Kant.
"If you expect results to come in 3-4 months time, I mean you are living in another world, its going to take minimum 18 months. The problem in India is that companies are very highly over leveraged. Banks are over leveraged, so it will take a little while. To my mind, wait for another 18 months," he added.

He was replying to a question whether 'Make in India' programme was lacking force amid core sector data in January dipping to a 13-month low.
Kant's comments also assumes significance as some corporate leaders recently raised concerns that there has been no change on the ground.
He said that the government has announced FDI policy liberalisation just 3-4 months back only.
Emphasising on the need to focus on manufacturing to create jobs and boost economic growth, Kant said the government is taking steps to improve ease of doing business in the country.
Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman too has recently said the government is willing to hear out the industry and hoped they will start saying "a lot of things are happening on the ground".