New Delhi: The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) aims to increase India’s share in global additive manufacturing to 5 percent within the next three years, with hopes that it could likely add $ 1 billion to the gross domestic product by that time.

As per the National Strategy for Additive Manufacturing, by 2025, India will aim to achieve certain targets such as 50 India-specific technologies for material, machine, and software, 100 new startups for additive manufacturing, 500 new products. In total, MeitY hopes that these new startups and opportunities will give jobs to at least 1 lakh new skilled workers over the next three years.

“We have taken some very clearly defined goals in this strategy,” IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said while releasing the strategy document.
3D printing or additive manufacturing uses computer-aided designing to make prototypes or working models of objects by laying down successive layers of materials such as plastic, resin, thermoplastic, metal, fiber, or ceramic. With the help of software, the model to be printed is first developed by the computer, which then gives instructions to the 3D printer.

In its national strategy, MeitY has suggested that to get ahead in the additive manufacturing or 3D printing space, India must adopt it in all sectors, including in defense and public sectors. An apex body that has subject matter experts and leaders from local and global industries could be established to lead the mission.

The Indian Express had in December 2020 first reported that the IT ministry was readying a national policy on promoting 3D printing on an industrial scale and helping domestic companies “overcome technical and economic barriers” so that they can build supportive and ancillary facilities for world leaders in the technology, such as the US and China.