Topic: Industrial Policies
Q5. India’s industrialisation strategy has relied more on incentives than on structural transformation. Discuss this critique. Examine its implications for productivity growth and propose a structural reform agenda. (15 M)
Difficulty Level: Medium
Reference: InsightsIAS
Why the question
India’s recent industrial expansion is increasingly driven by fiscal incentives like PLI rather than foundational reforms in factor markets, technology, and productivity systems, raising concerns about long-term competitiveness.Key demand of the question
To explain the critique that India prioritises incentives over structural transformation, assess how this affects productivity growth, and propose a structural reform agenda that improves competitiveness and innovation.Structure of the Answer:
Introduction
Briefly indicate that India’s industrial growth lacks a strong structural foundation in technology, skills, logistics and factor markets, creating a gap between output expansion and productivity gains.Body
- Briefly indicate how reliance on subsidies and incentives creates shallow industrial competitiveness and leaves major bottlenecks unaddressed.
- Indicate how this pattern constrains capital deepening, labour productivity, firm scaling and technology absorption.
- Briefly indicate the broad direction of reforms needed in factor markets, logistics, innovation systems, MSME scaling and skill ecosystems.
Conclusion
Conclude with emphasising the need for incentive frameworks to complement—rather than replace—deep structural reforms to build durable industrial competitiveness.
