New Delhi: India’s new industrial policy, that is set to be implemented with an aim to capitalise on the “fourth industrial revolution”, is ready and will soon be approved by the Union Cabinet, Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu has said. The policy targets promoting manufacturing, attracting investments and creating jobs, he said.
‘The new industrial policy is ready for a while. It has to be approved by the Prime Minister,’ Prabhu said at an event held at the national capital.
With changing technologies in the manufacturing sector, the world is talking about the fourth industrial revolution. It includes artificial intelligence, robotics, internet of things, block chain and machine learning. India too is gearing itself to use these modern technologies to boost its manufacturing sector and increase its share in the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
The proposed policy would look at ways to reduce regulatory hurdles and encourage adoption of frontier technologies such as robotics and artificial intelligence. The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), under the Commerce and Industry Ministry, in August last year floated a draft industrial policy with an aim to create jobs for the next two decades, promote foreign technology transfer and attract $100 billion FDI annually.
The new policy will replace the industrial policy of 1991 which was prepared in the backdrop of balance of payment crisis. The Ministry is also considering to set up industrial health clinics to deal with sickness in the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) as part of the proposed policy. Prabhu pointed out that the fourth industrial revolution is going to displace jobs so “we need to re-skill our workforce”.
Karnataka top
As per statistics published by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Government of India, in terms of investment proposals until August, Karnataka has been ranked first in the country.
The State attracted proposed investments of Rs 79,866 crore from January to August. This is a parameter that the State has topped since 2016. The State also accounted for 26.61 per cent of the countrys investment intentions. The data comes in-tune with the draft policy that aims at bringing more invesments to the country.
Meanwhile at EU…
A new EU Industrial Policy Strategy has been put in place aiming at empowering European industries to continue delivering sustainable growth and jobs.
Circular economy, renewable biological resources and their conversion into bio-based products and bio-energy as well as new proposals for clean, competitive and connected mobility supporting the deployment of charging infrastructure, and actions to foster autonomous driving are hot priorities to ensure that the industrial EU sector becomes the world leader in decarbonization and sustainable innovation.
With digitalization as a cornerstone pillar for the industry of the future, the modernization of the Intellectual Property Framework, the strengthening of cybersecurity, and the extension of the skills agenda to new key industry sectors are also big priorities that are been promoted.
| The electronic gold mine |
| With the draft electronics policy, the government aims $400 billion electronics manufacturing sector by 2025. While the draft policy sets targets for manufacturing of electronic products, it did not detail and aim for job creation in the sector.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology came out with the draft electronics policy, on which it has sought comments from stakeholders. The draft policy proposes to double the mobile phone production from 500 million to one billion by 2025. ‘This ($400 billion turnover) shall include targeted production of one billion mobile handsets by 2025, valued at $190 billion, including 600 million mobile handsets valued at $110 billion for export,’ the draft said. According to the draft, the government plans to end modified special incentive scheme with schemes that it will find easier to implement such as interest subsidy and credit default guarantee, etc. As on 30 September, 265 applications with proposed investment of Rs 61,925 crore have been received under M-SIPS, out of which 188 applications with proposed investment of Rs 40,922 crore have been approved and the investment of Rs 8,335 crore has been made by 139 applicants, the draft said. |