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Govt plans policy to attract funds for building manufacturing hubs

BANGALORE: The Union commerce & industry ministry is in the process of formulating a draft policy to attract investments for setting up mega manufacturing hubs in the country.

Delivering the keynote address at the EEPC India National Awards for Export Excellence for 2008-09 here on Friday, Union commerce & industry minister Anand Sharma said the ministry is in the final stages of formulating the policy and is most likely to be placed before the inter-ministerial group by the end of October this year.

Mr Sharma said such policy will facilitate timely approval and clearances of investments needed for the large manufacturing hubs.

The minister stressed that engineering and manufacturing need to go hand-in-hand to have an meaningful impact on the economy. "India has tremendous potential in manufacturing though our share in global exports is just 1%," he remarked. However, Mr Sharma said before these investments are made, efforts should be directed towards skill training and upgradation of the workforce, given that millions are going to join the labour pool in the near future.

Dwelling upon the ongoing situation of the global economy and its impact on the country, the minister said, "We have not emerged fully out of this economic situation." He said various government incentives and stimulus packages provided the necessary cushion effect to the economy, thereby limiting the damaging consequences.

"Every economy has been affected by this crisis. It was universal but not uniform in the impact," Mr Sharma said. Given that the global recession occurred in the heart of the developed economy starting with the financial crisis, the minister said that impact was felt worldwide.

The minister, however, expressed confidence that economic recovery was taking place in the country though it was a bit uneven. "We are confident that the economy would register 9% growth in the current fiscal."

Speaking on the occasion, EEPC India chairman Aman Chadha said, "The impact of global economic recession still persists despite signs of green shoots recover. 2009-10 was a particularly difficult year when engineering exports fell by 19.21% and our share in total exports fell to 18.31%."

Mr Chadha said an Ernst & Young strategy paper for growth of engineering exports has set an export target of $110 billion by 2014. Achieving this target will also have a considerable impact on the Indian economy as it is expected to lead to a sustainable increase of 0.5-0.6% in India’s real GDP growth rate and create an additional 8.9 to 9.4 million jobs.

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com