New Delhi [India], November 18 (ANI): Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal on Wednesday chaired a review meeting of the Steering Committee on Advancing Local value-add and Exports (SCALE) and said that a slew of Production Linked Incentives (PLIs) announced by the Centre in various sectors have induced post-Covid industrial and economic recovery.
Stating that there has been positive industry feedback about the various PLIs announced by the Centre, Goyal noted that some of these PLIs in the textile, automotive and white goods sectors are already beginning to encourage more growth.
“Out of the global auto component trade of USD 1.3 trillion, India’s share is USD 15 billion. The government aims to double its exports of auto components to USD 30 billion by 2026,” he added.
The minister asked all the stakeholders to have the best quality products and world-class labs for testing as India embarks on an unprecedented global trade engagement.
He urged the states to undertake suitable amendments in labour laws to take advantage of PLIs induced manufacturing growth. “Cost of doing business needs to be assessed state-wise,” he remarked.
Goyal asked industry captains to take advantage of low labour costs and reap the benefits of India’s huge scale and demographic dividend.
Pointing out that every country cannot be good in all sectors, he said that India has to choose the niche and specific areas and excel in it. “Take comparative cost advantage in key areas,” he stated.
He further identified key focus areas for improvement to achieve robust growth in the manufacturing sector which includes land, skill development, government and industry partnership and compliance of Model Labour Law.
Encouraging the industry to go for technology transfer and indigenization of chip manufacturing, Goyal said there are great possibilities emerging in new sectors. “Huge opportunities exist in the Drones sector,” he said while stressing proper regulations to be worked out by the Ministry of Civil Aviation for the growth of this niche sector.
He also called upon the electronics industry to aim for local value addition in TV manufacturing from the current 28 per cent to 43.7 per cent.
“The set-top box (STB), CCTV, mobile handsets and television manufacturers should come out with plans on how localization can be achieved,” the minister added.
He also lauded the air conditioner manufacturers for achieving a great degree of localization and also switching over to CFL-free cooling technology. On the switch over to clean energy in the automobiles sector, the minister stressed on ramping up indigenous production of magnets and electric motors. (ANI)
