Comm Min to meet govt, industry execs on reviving mfg space

Worried over declining growth of manufacturing, the government has called a high level meeting of central ministries, state government officials as well as industry representatives tomorrow to chalk out strategy for reviving the sector.

The meeting, to be inaugurated by Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma, will deliberate on impediments such as land acquisition, Member Secretary of National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council (NMCC) Ajay Shankar told reporters.

"Besides declining industrial production, other major things to be discussed in the meeting include measures for regaining growth momentum in manufacturing, challenges relating to MSMEs and employment intensive sectors like textiles," he said.

The manufacturing sector growth rate in July declined by 0.2%, pulling down the overall industrial production to just 0.1%.

The meeting will also deliberate on strategies and processes for reaching 12-14% growth rates in manufacturing as envisaged in the national manufacturing policy (NMP), Shankar said.

He said that business regulatory environment and skill development matters would be discussed.

"In the meeting, land and workspaces with adequate infrastructure at affordable rates along with workers housing will be discussed," he added.

Besides Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth, the other officials to be present include state chief secretaries and principal industry secretaries, Adviser to PM Sam Pitroda and Member Planning Commission Arun Maira.

CII President Adi Godrej, Assocham President Raj Kumar Dhoot and Ficci Vice President Sidhart Birla will also participate in the meeting.

"Ministries and departments of the central government as well as the industrial chambers would be interacting with the representatives of the states," Shankar said.

A separate session will be held on recent international experience of effective industrial policy implementation.

"An effective partnership between the central and state governments and industry is the key to the attainment of the NMP objective of 12-14% growth rates sustained over a decade," he added.