Issues of Manufacturing Sector in India

According to NITI Aayog’s report, the sector’s growth rate has remained constant for the past 25 years

Whereas countries such as Taiwan and China recorded more than double the rate of expansion in India

In Taiwan and South Korea in the 1960s and 1970s and in China in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, manufacturing grew at rates approaching or exceeding 15 per cent

It lead to transformation of these economies from primarily agrarian and rural character to modern urban ones in around three decades

The fast-growing sectors in India have been automobile and its parts, two-wheelers, machinery, chemicals, petroleum refining, telecommunications, software and pharmaceuticals

None of these sectors employs low-skilled workers in large numbers

As a result, the vast majority of Indian workers remain concentrated in agriculture, unorganised industry or low-paying services

To achieve rapid growth in manufacturing sector

Ensuring healthy growth in labour-intensive sectors such as clothing, leather manufactures, food processing and electronic assembly

Growth in these sectors would help create good jobs for workers with limited skills

Suggestions by the NITI Aayog in its three-year action plan

Easing entry barriers and reducing duties on synthetic fibres to make India’s apparel industry competitive in global market

Reducing custom duty on gold

Increasing investment in skill training

Expediting creation of integrated mega food parks and lower duties on key inputs of final electronics products