India Backbone Implementation Network can boost manufacturing sector

August 17, 2013 12:54 pm

India’s long-term manufacturing plan objectives of creating 100 million additional jobs by 2025 runs the risk of being jeopardised if implementation issues are not addressed in a spirit of collaboration by all stakeholders.
“There is need to rethink our industrial policy as the central planning approach up to the mid 1980s, followed by reliance on national champions and technologies and complete dependence on market had proved to be ineffective as industrial policy models,” said Arun Maira, Member, Planning Commission, while addressing a FICCI workshop on ‘Empowering India – the Manufacturing Mandate’.
He said the three ‘rails’ of manufacturing policy were stakeholder involvement, implementation and learning, the end objective being creation of a national ecosystem that facilitates competitive abilities of enterprises.
Emphasising the power of alignment of approaches and views of the various stakeholders, he said that there was a need to recognise the varying depths of contention and confusion and addressing them appropriately.
Naina Lal Kidwai, President, FICCI, pointed that the track record of manufacturing sector’s growth was a disgrace. “We seem to have lost the plot somewhere,” she said, adding that it was imperative to move on to an inclusive growth path that is job oriented.
She expressed confidence that the objective of achieving a 25 per cent share of manufacturing in GDP by 2025 was possible if there are good governance reforms at the state level and the gap between attractiveness of India as an investment destination and the business environment was bridged.
Sanjay Bhatia, Chairman, FICCI Manufacturing Committee and MD, Hindustan Tin Works, emphasised that process- and a performance-driven culture were import ingredients for making the manufacturing tick. He added that the implementation of the IBIN would go a long way in improving governance and implementation.
A. Didar Singh, Secretary General, FICCI, remarked that the objective of the report was to identify key factors which impact business environment in India.