‘Made in India’ Must Evolve Into ‘Imagined in India’: FM Sitharaman

India's next phase of economic growth must be driven not just by manufacturing but by innovation, design and technology development, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday, urging businesses to move beyond the 'Made in India' vision and embrace an 'Imagined in India' approach where products are conceived, designed and developed in the country before being marketed globally. Highlighting the country's evolving economic capabilities, FM Sitharaman said India possesses the market scale, entrepreneurial energy and institutional capacity required to achieve significantly higher levels of growth.

"Manufacturing scale is important, but the next stage is to capture more of the value that comes from design, engineering, patent, software, technology, and know-how," the minister noted. "Our ambition must move from made in India to imagined in India. Products not only manufactured here, but conceived, designed, and technologically developed here, and then taken to the markets across the world," FM Sitharaman said while addressing the 53rd National Management Convention of the All India Management Association (AIMA) here.

However, the finance minister cautioned that effective execution would determine how successfully these strengths are transformed into enduring national capabilities. FM Sitharaman noted that while expanding manufacturing capacities remains important, India must increasingly capture value generated through design, engineering, software, patents, technology and specialised know-how. Addressing the challenges faced by family-owned enterprises, the finance minister stressed the need for greater professionalisation in business management.

The finance minister called for a clearer separation between ownership and management, well-defined responsibilities, succession planning and proactive conflict resolution mechanisms. The minister urged AIMA to expand practical training programmes focused on family businesses, covering areas such as governance, succession planning, delegation of authority and conflict management. According to her, strengthening these foundations would help businesses sustain growth across generations. "The real prize is not how many unicorns we create, but how many endure, turning today's startups into tomorrow's large corporations," FM Sitharaman said.

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