India today is, unmistakably, a services-driven economy. As per the Economic Survey and recent government releases, the services sector (tertiary) now contributes around 55% of Gross Value Added (GVA) in India. The sector also accounts for roughly 30% of India’s workforce as per ILO and World Bank estimates. In short, India’s growth engine is powered by services, not agriculture or low-end manufacturing.

Yet over the decades, India has long aspired to emulate the manufacturing-led growth path of others, most notably China. Be it through import substitution in earlier decades, the ‘Make in India’ push since 2014, or the more recent Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes, successive governments have sought to build a strong domestic manufacturing base.

In the past decade, especially, th

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