The sixth meeting of India’s National Manufacturing Competitive Council (NMCC) was held on Friday, during which manufacturing expansion was discussed. An agreement for the NMCC to work jointly with the Investment Commission for the growth of the manufacturing sector and employment generation was made in an earlier meeting.
On August 4, the first meeting of the High Level Committee on Manufacturing (HLCM) took place and a National Strategy for Manufacturing (NSM) was adopted. The Committee is aiming for a 12 percent growth in manufacturing annually.An “Empowered Subcommittee” was created and was charged with the priority areas of textiles and garments, food and agro processing, leather and footwear, IT hardware and electronics, and skill development.
According to the Deccan Herald, Kamal Nath, Commerce Minister, had “proposed the setting up of ten sector-specific manufacturing zones across various parts of the country, taking vital factors like availability of raw materials and concerned sector-specific skilled manpower into consideration.”
This proposal was based on the positive response to the idea for Special Economic Zones (SEZ), locations that would provide internationally competitive areas for exports.
