The Government of India has announced the National Manufacturing Policy on 4thNovember, 2011 with the objective of enhancing the share of manufacturing in GDP to 25% and creating 100 million jobs over a decade or so. It also seeks to empower rural youth by imparting necessary skill sets to make them employable. National Investment and Manufacturing Zones (NIMZs) are an important instrumentality of the policy. These zones are conceptualized as integrated industrial townships with the elements necessary to help the growth of manufacturing, e.g. state-of-the-art infrastructure; clean and energy efficient technology; simplified business regulations; and the necessary social and institutional infrastructure. NIMZs are different from SEZs in terms of size; level of infrastructure planning; governance structures related to regulatory procedures; exit policies; and fiscal incentives.

It is not possible to assessthe impact of specific National Investment and Manufacturing Zones (NIMZs) on the share of manufacturing in the country’s GDP at this stage, as the zones are in the initial phases of development.

The information was given by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry Dr. E.M. Sudarsana Natchiappan in Rajya Sabha today.

National Investment and Manufacturing Zones promote integrated infrastructure and regulatory reforms to support manufacturing growth and employability. The National Manufacturing Policy establishes National Investment and Manufacturing Zones (NIMZs) as integrated industrial townships providing state-of-the-art infrastructure, clean and energy-efficient technology, simplified regulatory procedures and social and institutional services to promote manufacturing and employability; NIMZs differ from export-oriented special zones in scale, infrastructure planning, governance of regulatory processes, exit arrangements and fiscal incentive frameworks, and specific impacts cannot yet be assessed as the zones are in initial development stages.