Rationale

♤ Inadequate physical infrastructure, complex regulatory environment and inadequate availability of skilled manpower have constrained the growth of manufacturing in India.

♤ The share of manufacturing in India’s GDP has stagnated at 15-16% since 1980s which needs to be increased for increasing efficiency, productivity leading to accelerated development of the people.

♤ Manufacturing sector will have multiplier effect on the creation of jobs in other sectors too.

♤ In other Asian countries the share of manufacturing sector in the GDP is around 25-34%. This shows that we have not been fully able to leverage the opportunities provided by the globalization.

♤ India has favourable demographic dividend with 60% of people in the age group 15-59 years. Therefore, it becomes necessary to provide gainful employment opportunities with this section of people with varying skills.

♤ India has many agricultural and natural resources but the amount of value addition is very less. Growth of manufacturing sector will address this problem of value addition and reduce our dependence on imports of capital equipment.

♤ We also need depth in manufacturing from the point of competitiveness in strategic areas of economy such as defence and telecommunications.