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Shri Kamal Nath, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, has called for a major boost to improving the competitiveness of India’s manufacturing sector in order to generate demand, investment and employment in the country. Inaugurating the first meeting of the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council (NMCC), which is headed by Dr. V. Krishnamurthy, Shri Kamal Nath said that the common minimum programme recognized this and the government had accordingly created a forum of all stakeholders in the form of the NMCC to give the much required fillip to India’s manufacturing sector.
“The share of manufacturing sector accounts for only 17% in our GDP which is very low compared to China, Malaysia and Thailand where manufacturing contributes to 1/3rd or more in their GDP. The growth of manufacturing sector at an average of 6.3% during 1991 to 2003 is much below our potential. Manufacturing needs to grow at 12% annually or more for GDP to grow at 8% and provide jobs to the masses. Though the National Common Minimum Programme targets 8% plus GDP growth over a decade, the Indian manufacturing industry is capable of taking Indian GDP growth to double digits”, he said. Dr. Krishnamurthy delivered the welcome address.
Shri Kamal Nath emphasized that the compositionof the Council had been carefully chosen to represent not only the best industrialiasts in the country but also the key sectors in manufacturing. The Council includes S/Shri Ratan Tata, Y.C. Deveshwar, Jamshed Godrej, Venu Srinivasan, Habil Khorakiwala of Wokhardt Limited, Dr. Surinder Kapur of Sona Steerings, Mukul Kasliwal of S Kumars, Ms. Uma Reddy, woman entrepreneur; economists Dr. Bibek Debroy and Dr. Isher Judge Ahluwalia, eminent educationists Dr. M. S. Anant of IIT Chennai and Prof. Sekhar Choudhry of IIM Kolkata, besides representatives of industry associations, FICCI, CII and ASSOCHAM. Shri Govindarajan, Member Secretary of the Council, also addressed the meeting.
Underlining that economic liberalisation had provided tremendous opportunities for Indian manufacturers to make products for domestic and global markets, Shri Kamal Nath said that cost advantages of manufacturing in India was evident to the global community, who had started using the Indian manufacturing base in sectors like auto-components, R&D, drugs & pharmaceuticals etc. “However, investment climate in India and our manufacturing competitiveness is yet to reach its potential and this must be addressed on priority”, he added.
SB/MRS
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