High growth rate in manufacturing a doable challenge, says Niti Aayog CEO

Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant Tuesday said achieving double digit growth in the manufacturing sector on sustainable basis is a "doable challenge" but for that the country needs to integrate with global markets.

Referring to the draft report of Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) on making India a USD 5 trillion economy by 2025, he said the plan envisages an annual GDP growth rate of 11.7 per cent.

On sectoral basis, growth in the manufacturing gross value added has to be 14.6 per cent year after year, Kant said.

"To my mind that's a challenge, but it is a doable challenge. We have to be extremely competitive and across chemicals, across automobile, across metals and that would require size and scale," he said at a CII event attended by industrialists.

He said that if manufacturing sector has to grow at 14.6 per cent, then "you have to be a very integral part of the global supply chain" and it cannot be done without looking at global markets.

As per the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the growth in the Gross Value Added (GVA) at basic prices for 2017-18 from 'manufacturing' sector was estimated to be 5.1 per cent as compared to growth of 7.9 per cent in 2016-17.

"For too long, Indian manufacturing has been looking at domestic markets. One thing is very clear that all of us must realise is that the big bucks are out there in the global markets...Therefore, penetrating global markets must be our challenge," Kant said.

He said that no country in the world, may it be Japan or China, has grown without penetrating global markets. Kant urged the industry to create "2-3 global champions" which will lead India into penetrating the global markets.

The Niti Aayog official further said he was going through various schemes of textiles ministry. The ministry has plethora of schemes which have grown over the years, he noted. 

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"I think all of them need to go and we just need to have one simple scheme of creating plug and play world-class facility which will ensure that we make our industry competitive," Kant said.