The government has set a target for India to emerge as the third-largest manufacturing country in the world from its sixth rank currently.
This would be achieved through various initiatives. The government is also helping the industry to acquire high-end technology and achieve scale to achieve the desired objective, according to a government official.“Manufacturing has emerged as one of the high growth sectors in India. This sector accounts for around 17 per cent of the country’s GDP. The Government in its New Manufacturing Policy (NMP) aims to increase this share to 25 per cent by 2022,” Girish Shankar, Secretary, Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises, Department of Heavy Industries said at WIN India 2016, an event organised to promote modern manufacturing.
“India’s ranking among the world’s 10 largest manufacturing countries has already improved by three places to sixth position in 2015,” he added.
India will look at moving up the global ranking to be the 3rd or 4th largest manufacturing country by the year 2019-2020, he added.
“The Department of Heavy Industries has been active in reforming policies leading to creating a better eco-system for Industry 4.0 or Smart Manufacturing. We are spearheading the drive to meet the technology gaps through various policy initiatives. We have two major disadvantages. These include the low-end technology and the size (currently) . Now there is a good opportunity to leap frog by embracing technology in a big way,” Mr. Prasad said. India’s manufacturing sector has the potential to touch $ 1 trillion by 2025 and create up to 90 million domestic jobs by 2025, he said.