JOIN USThe government is making a last ditch effort to revive the stuttering manufacturing sector through its ‘Make in India’ roadshow in Mumbai from February 13.
Much like ‘Startup India’, it is going to be a large conglomerate of Indian and overseas investors, manufacturers and traders. The official representatives will sit face-to-face with them to give a first-hand solution to their problems.
While the government believes that major issue hindering ‘Make in India’ is the presence of widespread ‘negative perception’, data suggests otherwise. A State Bank of India report on Tuesday said that delay in implementation of infrastructure projects remains a concern. It said construction, steel and textile industry needed to be addressed head-on.
It said 42 per cent of tenders floated in the past 12 months were yet to be awarded.
In the textile sector, it recommended the government to think afresh in certain areas to bolster ‘Make in India’ campaign. The steel sector too was not looking good, the report said. The manufacturing sector has so far shown a mixed trend. Foreign direct investments have increased significantly in numbers after the government opened 15 key sectors like construction, defence, broadcasting and civil aviation to greater amounts of FDI. But, the ease of doing business for domestic, as well as foreign, investors still looks full of pitfalls.
A top government official said that the next major step is implementation of greater ease of doing business, and accelerating efforts to spur domestic investment, which has remained muted so far.
The week-long ‘Make in India’ roadshow in Mumbai, in which, a thousand domestic and foreign companies and delegates from 60 countries are participating, will provide impetus to investment. The government is also planning a series of roadshows in the next one month to push investments from the domestic players.
To a large extent, the success of the ‘Make in India’ programme hinges on rapid execution of dedicated freight corridor programme. The official said, “the Prime Minister Narendra Modi government is serious about it.” The SBI report too said, “One of the several steps the government can take is to push for the ‘Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor’, to alleviate some macro issues relating to nearness to markets and ports for exports.