New Delhi: The government has announced setting up of 16 national investment and manufacturing zones (NIMZs) to boost economic growth.
Under the National Manufacturing Policy, the government has proposed setting up of NIMZs. The policy aims at enhancing the share of manufacturing in GDP to 25 percent within a decade and creating 100 million jobs.
"In order to boost the manufacturing sector, the government has already announced setting up of 16 NIMZs," the Economic Survey 2013-14, tabled in the Parliament, said Wednesday.
Of 16 NIMZs, eight are along the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC). Besides, eight other zones have been given in-principle approval. They are proposed to come up in Nagpur, Chittoor, Medak, Tumkur, Kolar, Bidar and Gulbarga.
NIMZs are conceptualised as integrated industrial townships of at least 50 sq km (5,000 hectares) with world class infrastructure. Besides it will have land use on the basis of zoning, clean and energy efficient technology and necessary social infrastructure.
The DMIC project, which is being developed with the help of Japan, would cover Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Maharashtra along the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor of the Railways.
"Land acquisition for the new industrial regions/areas as well as for the early bird projects identified for development as model initiatives is in different stages of progress in different states.
"The DMIC Trust has taken investment decisions on nine projects and action to implement them has already been initiated by the DMICDC," it said.
On the lines of DMIC, the government has also proposed setting up Chennai-Bengaluru-Chitradurga industrial corridor (CBIC), Bengaluru-Mumbai Economic corridor (BMEC) and Amritsar-Kolkata Industrial Corridor (AKIC).
Further, the survey said that to push the share of manufacturing in the overall GDP, there is a need to capture the global market in sectors showing a rising trend in demand.
These sectors are largely high techn and capital intensive, it said, adding such high-tech industries may perform a less important role in sustaining employment but are critical for capital accumulation and skill development and to improve the knowledge base.
"To gain a firm footing in these sectors, the policy thrust should be on pushing up the level of public and private expenditure on technology upgradation, research and development, innovation, and skill development," it added.
Manufacturing, which constitutes over 75 percent of the index of industrial production (IIP), declined 1.2 percent in March against a growth of 4.3 percent a year earlier.
During the April-March period of 2013-14, the sector's output contracted 0.8 percent compared with 1.3 percent growth previously.
The survey said although industry has immense potential for further strengthening the agro-processing, textiles, garments, leather and footwear sectors, the medium-term challenge for manufacturing is to "move from lower to higher-tech sectors, from lower to higher value added sectors and from lower to higher productivity sectors".
Talking about the industrial corridors, it said the CBIC will benefit Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
The Japan International Cooperation Agency study team undertook the preliminary study for comprehensive integrated master plan for this and has identified a total of 25 priority projects across various sectors aimed at removing infrastructural bottlenecks.
Similarly, India and the UK have signed an MOU for the development of BMEC. A feasibility study is scheduled to be completed this this year. A joint steering group will be set up for the project after the feasibility study.
The proposed AKIC would cover seven states - Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. To implement this project Amritsar-Kolkata Industrial Corridor Development Corporation would be set up this fiscal.
