PM panel clears new manufacturing policy

The approval, accorded by the high level committee headed by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, however, is subject to more inter-Ministerial consultations for resolving sensitive issues relating to labour and environment protection.

Singh suggested that though policy measures would reduce the compliance burden on industry, measures have to be formulated while adequately taking care of the environmental and labour welfare concerns. He also directed that the consultation process should be completed within one month, so that the NMP could be brought before the Cabinet and the final Policy announced to  send a “positive” message to the investing community.

It has been decided to refer the draft manufacturing policy to a Committee of Secretaries for further “fine-tuning”, that seeks to enhance growth of the industrial sector. Moved by the Commerce and Industries Minister Anand Sharma, the draft NMP aims at raising the sectoral share of manufacturing in GDP from the present 16 per cent to at least 25 per cent by 2025 and increase the rate of job creation in manufacturing to create 100 million additional jobs by 2025.

The creation of National Investment and Manufacturing Zones (NIMZs), as mega investment regions equipped with world-class infrastructure, has been proposed as a major policy instrument. The draft has been finalised after consultations with stakeholders, concerned ministries, state governments and industry associations. The meeting was attended by Pranab Mukherjee, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Jairam Ramesh, Anand Sharma, Murli Deora and   C Rangarajan.