PM to discuss various issues of national manufacturing policy

06 Jun 2011 Evaluate

The Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is scheduled to chair an inter-ministerial meeting on 9th June to discuss the policy like environment, land acquisition and labour issues in order to remove obstacles of new manufacturing policy. The meeting to discuss the draft manufacturing policy was initially scheduled for June 2 but was postponed then. The draft national manufacturing policy has inputs from all sections after an intense and absorbing debate in the country and an inter-Ministerial consultation had been completed for the policy which would enable the creation of mega industrial zones across the country.

The manufacturing sector's contribution to GDP has been stagnating at 16% and this new policy will create National Investment and Manufacturing Zones (NIMZs) as mega investment regions, which will help increase the contribution of the manufacturing sector to India’s gross domestic product from 16% to 25% by 2025. The draft policy issued by Department of Industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) under the ministry of commerce, had recommended that the clearance period for the projects should be around a year and in case the process is not completed in time, it should be treated as deemed granted. But, the proposed new manufacturing policy is opposed by ministries on the issues like environment and labour. The labour ministry is opposing the outsourcing of inspection of the national manufacturing industrial zones (NIMZs) to third parties and easier exit policies that might empower companies to execute a hire and fire policy. On the other side, environment ministry is not in favour of offering an easier set of norms to accelerate the process of clearance as relevant laws will have to be modified appropriately.