Aiming to set up a slew of mega industrial zones and to create over 100 million new jobs by 2022, the government on Tuesday cleared the much-awaited National Manufacturing Policy.
The matter had come up at the Union Cabinet’s last meeting, when it was referred to a Group of Ministers headed by agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, as differences cropped up between the environment and industries ministries.
After the GoM’s consultations, the government agreed to dilute certain elements of the policy relating to labour and environmental laws.
The orginal 2009 draft was quite flexible on these two contentious issues, but the policy cleared on Tuesday lacks such flexibility. An official release said Tuesday that the exit policy (for workers) “will be prepared keeping in view provisions for protection of workers’ rights” within the statutory framework.
The governing body of special purpose vehicle (SPV) to manage the National Investment and Manufacturing Zones will be headed by a government official, the release said. In the earlier proposal, the SPV was to be headed by a chief executive officer.
Asked if the original proposal had been diluted, commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma appeared evasive while briefing reporters.
Mr Sharma said there were “concerns”, due to which a GoM had been set up.
These, he said, were “addressed in a participatory and consultative manner.... We came out with a robust policy, one of the major policy rollouts in recent times”.
“The NMP seeks to enhance manufacturing’s share in GDP to 25 per cent in a decade and create 100 million jobs in manufacturing as part of the UPA’s inclusive growth agenda,” the minister said.
The contribution of the manufacturing sector in India’s GDP at present is just over 16 per cent. To encourage the manufacturing sector, the government will provide fiscal incentives to industry, particularly to the small and medium enterprises.
The policy envisages specific interventions broadly in the areas of industrial infrastructure development and improvement of the business environment.