Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Commerce & Industry

13-July-2011 17:13 IST

Anand Sharma to Chair Joint Task Force to have a Structured Dialogue with the Industry Cabinet Note on the National Manufacturing Policy Soon

The Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Shri Anand Sharma will chair a Joint Task Force to have a structured format of regular dialogue between industry and govt. At the second tier Secretary DIPP and an Industry representative will co-chair the Task Force. It will have a group which will have experts, analysts and economists. The decision came after the Minister’s meeting with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here today. The Minister is engaged in consultation with the Industry on various related issues including FDI inflows, FDI Policy, decline in manufacturing output to take on board industry concerns. “Dialogue with industry has been taking place but we will put it in a structured format and also to have a similar dialogue in regional headquarters. Some have already taken place in southern India - Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore last month and we will do it for the eastern and western region in Kolkata and Mumbai soon” Shri Sharma said. He will soon meet FICCI delegation to seek their views.

The Industry raised the issues of slowdown in capital formation, in mining and in manufacturing. There were concerns regarding credit flow, skill deficit and decline in manufacturing jobs. Industry also raised issue of the hurdles in the way of big ticket investment. The minister said that apart from structured national and regional consultation there is a need for further liberalization of FDI regime.

After the meeting, the Minister informed that the National Manufacturing Policy which has been given in-principal approval by the high level committee chaired by the Prime Minister was discussed at great length. “Some fine tuning that was required with few ministries. A Committee of Secretaries led by the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister is looking into it. I am sure that the other meetings which will take place within the next 10 days will help us in bringing this to a successful conclusion. Soon we will be in a position to circulate Cabinet note on the National Manufacturing Policy ”Shri Sharma added.

Shri B Muthuraman, President, CII expressed happiness with the interaction and said that the meeting discussed “the problems as to why there has been slowdown over the last few months, what actions have to be taken. We are going to meet on a regular basis.”

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DS/GK

Structured industry-government dialogue to address manufacturing slowdown and pursue FDI liberalisation ahead of policy Cabinet submission. A Joint Task Force chaired by the Union Minister with a Secretary-level co-chair and industry representation will institutionalise structured national and regional dialogues, supported by experts, to address slowdown in capital formation, mining and manufacturing output, credit constraints, skill deficits and hurdles to large investments, and to pursue further liberalisation of the FDI regime. A Committee of Secretaries is refining the National Manufacturing Policy ahead of circulation of a Cabinet note following additional meetings and regional consultations.