The draft note on India’s new ‘National Manufacturing Policy’ is expected to be ready soon as the current committee is likely to finish its deliberations in 10 days, India’s trade minister Anand Sharma said.
The National Manufacturing policy is India’s belated attempt to catch up with China in manufacturing and stem the tide of imports and create jobs for the burgeoning population. Pitched nearly a year ago, the policy had been caught in the red tape for many months, before being approved “in principle” by the prime minister a few days ago.
It is eagerly awaited as the policy is seen as the beginning of the ‘second economic reforms’ of India, with the first one having more or less run in course in the last twenty years.
Despite his best efforts, the policy has not moved as fast as minister Sharma would have liked, but the he was emphatic that it will soon be put in black and white.
Sharma agreed that some ministries had expressed reservations about the way labor and environment clearances were sought to be simplified and the implementation of such laws to be delegated.
“Some fine tuning that was required with few ministries. A Committee of Secretaries led by the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister is looking into it,” he said.
“I am sure that the other meetings which will take place within the next 10 days will help us in bringing this to a successful conclusion. Soon we will be in a position to circulate Cabinet note on the National Manufacturing Policy,” he added after an industry meet in the capital today.
The industry leaders, in their meeting with the minister today, were vocal about worries regarding the slowdown in capital formation, vulnerable credit flows, skill deficit and decline in manufacturing jobs, Sharma’s office said.