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The “2011 vintage” manufacturing policy is being modified to align it with initiatives like ’Make in India’ and also Industrial Revolution 4.0, which refers to high end automation, according to Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
The national manufacturing policy (NMP) “is a 2011 vintage”, which envisaged that manufacturing should contribute 25 percent in India’s GDP by 2022, she stated.
Currently, the sector contributes about 16-17 percent in India’s economic growth.
The NMP, formulated in 2011, provides certain tax and other benefits to boost the sector’s growth besides creating 100 million additional jobs.
“Yes, we have initiated the process (to revamp the policy). I have instructed the secretary in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) to get into the details of that,” the Commerce and Industry Minister told PTI in an interview.
She said that it is necessary to modify the policy as in the last three years, the government has taken a host of initiatives like ‘Make in India’, ‘Digital India’ and ‘Skill India’ and significantly relaxed foreign investment policy.
The revamped policy, she said, is also necessary as the government has to protect the interests of all the segments in the industry, whether it is highly or partly automated and SMEs which are yet to adopt modern technologies.
“In this debate, the Industrial Revolution 4.0 is rapidly catching up. Whether you like it or not, some industries are bringing in robotics in a very big way. Some partly make use of it while others have not been impacted by this because they can not afford it or they do not want it. But we have to have a place for all the three,” Sitharaman said.
Industrial revolution 4.0 encompasses use of robotics, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, data analytics and automation.
Initiatives like ‘Make in India’, ‘Digital India’ and ’Skill India’ are aimed at making India a manufacturing hub and they ought to find a place in the national manufacturing policy.
“There should be some coherence. So I have asked them (DIPP) to get all these (initiatives) coming into this narrative in the context of three years of Make in India,” she said, adding that the policy should be relevant.
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