Manufacturing Policy Likely By End-September: Sharma.

The National Manufacturing Policy, envisaging to create mega industrial zone across the country, is likely to be announced by the end of the month.

“National Manufacturing Policy (NMP) has reached the final stage ... the note will go to the Cabinet within a week. I do not foresee any delay and hopefully within this month of September it will become a reality,” Commerce and Industry minister Anand Sharma today said at CII national council meeting.

The policy aims at augmenting the share of manufacturing in GDP to 25 per cent from 15-16 per cent currently within a decade and create 100 million jobs. Manufacturing sector contributes over 80 per cent to the country’s overall industrial production. The policy has been under controversy as it proposes to relax labour and environment laws and seeks tax sops for the proposed National Manufacturing Investment Zones (NMIZs), concessions which have not gone down well with the concerned departments. The NMIZs may even subsume special economic zones.

The focus will be on minimising the role of government and creating an environment of self-regulation as far as possible, the minister said. “We propose to establish 4-5 NMIZs as green field integrated industrial townships with world class infrastructure financed by the central government in partnership with respective state governments with a competitive regulatory environment for attractive investments,” Sharma added.

Apart from the manufacturing policy, on the $90 billion Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), Sharma said seven new investment regions would be set up across the six states of the country under the project.

Source : indianexpress.com