The Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the government is modifying '2011 vintage' national manufacturing policy (NMP) in order to align it with initiatives like 'Make in India' along with Industrial Revolution 4.0, which refers to high end automation. She also said that the NMP is of 2011 vintage, which envisaged that manufacturing should contribute 25 percent in India’s economic growth by 2022. She noted that currently, the sector contributes 16-17 percent to the country’s GDP growth.
She has stated that they have initiated the process to revamp the policy and also instructed the secretary in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) to get into the details of that. She also said that it is necessary to modify the policy as in the last three years, the government has taken a host of initiatives like 'Make in India', 'Digital India' and 'Skill India' and significantly relaxed foreign investment policy. Adding further, she explained that the revamped policy is also necessary as the government has to protect the interest of all segments of industry whether it is highly or partly automated and SMEs which are yet to adopt modern technologies.
The minister further said that initiatives taken by the government like 'Make in India' are aimed at making India a manufacturing hub and they ought to find a place in the national manufacturing policy. She also said that there should be some coherence. Therefore, she said that they have instructed DIPP to get all these initiatives coming into this narrative in the context of three years of Make in India and added that the policy should be relevant.