New Delhi, Jun 10 (IANS): India will soon have a national policy on manufacturing that will help create 100 million additional jobs by 2025 and boost economic growth.
"For the first time we are going to have a policy dedicated to the manufacturing sector. Industry welcomes the in-principle nod given by the prime minister to the draft National Manufacturing Policy and hopes that a final policy will be announced within a month," Harsh Mariwala, president of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) said Friday.
A high-level committee on manufacturing headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday cleared the draft of the policy that aims to increase the share of manufacturing in the country's GDP to 25 percent by 2025 from the present 16 percent.
The new policy is expected to give a fillip to the growth of industrial and overall GDP, which have slowed lately.
GDP growth slowed to 7.8 percent in the January-March period, the slowest in five quarters.
The country's industrial output grew at a much slower 6.3 percent in April, according to official data released Friday.
Analysts said the new policy, if implemented quickly, would provide a much-needed fillip to growth, especially the growth of industrial output.
"This will certainly give the much needed boost to the manufacturing sector whose contribution in the country's GDP has remained stagnant at 16 percent and needs to increase it to generate the much needed employment opportunities," FICCI's Mariwala said.
According to draft of the proposed manufacturing policy prepared by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, in consultation with National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council and the Planning Commission, the new policy is estimated to create an additional 100 million jobs by 2025.
Sustaining growth and providing gainful employment to the rising workforce is among the biggest challenges facing the country's economic policy makers.
The draft policy, which was presented to the meeting presided over by the prime minister by Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma, has been prepared after consultations with various stakeholders, including different ministries, state governments and industry associations.