To provide a major thrust to job creation by enhancing India’s exports, an Expert Task Force has, today, been constituted with the NITI Aayog Vice Chairman, Dr. Rajiv Kumar, as its Chairperson.

While the Indian workforce has high aspirations, a majority of the workers are still employed in low-productivity, low-wage jobs in small, micro and own-account enterprises. An urgent and sustained expansion of the organized sector is essential to address India’s unemployment and under-employment issue. An important strategy is also to enable a shift towards more labour-intensive goods and services that are destined for exports. Given the importance of exports in generating jobs, India needs to create an environment in which globally competitive exporters can emerge and flourish.

The steps outlined by the taskforce to address this challenge of creating well-paid, formal sector jobs, include:

1.   Proposing a comprehensive plan of action to generate employment and alleviate under-employment in both goods and services sectors and low wages by boosting India’s exports in key labour-intensive industries

2.   Recommending sector-specific policy interventions in key employment sectors

3.   Recommending measures to enhance trade in services with high employment potential

4.   Identifying key macroeconomic factors constraining exports and suggesting methods to address these constraints

5.   Assessing the effectiveness of existing schemes to promote exports

6.   Addressing issues related to logistics, export credits and trade facilitation

7.   Suggesting ways to enhance the availability of data on trade such that it is reliable, globally comparable and timely, particularly with respect to trade in services.

Members of the Task force include CEO, NITI Aayog, Secretary, Department of Commerce, Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Secretary, Ministry of Textiles. Leading economists and industry experts are also members of the Task Force, which will submit its report by November 2017.

Annex: Comnposition of the Task Force

1.      Vice Chairman NITI Aayog - Chairperson

2.      CEO, NITI Aayog – Member

3.      Secretary, Department of Commerce -- Member

4.      Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion -- Member

5.      Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs – Member

6.      Secretary, Ministry of Textiles -- Member

7.      Shri Rajeev Kher, former Secretary, Department of Commerce – Member

8.      Shri Ajit Ranade, Chief Economist, Aditya Birla Group

9.      Shri Praveen Chakravarty, Senior Fellow, IDFC Institute

10.   Dr. Jayanta Roy, formerly of The World Bank -- Member

11.  Shri Harish Ahuja, MD, Shahi Exports – Member

12.  Shri D. Shivakumar, Chairman and CEO, PepsiCo, India – Member

13.  Shri Sunil Vachani, Executive Chairman, Dixon Electronics – Member

14.  Shri Dipak Deva, CEO, Kuoni Travels, former President WTTDC

15.  Shri Dhiraj Nayyar, OSD, NITI Aayog -- Convener

Export-led job creation strategy to boost labour-intensive goods and services exports and recommend policy and facilitation measures. An expert Task Force is constituted to advance export-led job creation by developing a comprehensive plan to boost exports in labour-intensive goods and services, recommending sector-specific policies and service-trade measures, identifying macroeconomic constraints and addressing logistics, export credit and trade facilitation. The mandate includes assessing existing export-promotion schemes and improving the availability and comparability of trade data, especially for services, with a membership of senior officials, economists and industry experts and a requirement to submit a report within the prescribed timeline.