Initiatives to Arrest Slowdown in Industrial Production

The industrial growth, measured in terms of Index of Industrial Production (IIP), has declined during the last three years from 2.9% in 2011-12 to 1.1% in 2012-13 and further to (-) 0.1% in 2013-14. IIP has thereafter, recorded a positive growth of 2.1% (Provisional) during April-December in 2014-15.

 Several initiatives have been taken recently to give the necessary thrust for pacing up the industrial sector which enhances job opportunities, through policy amendments, procedural simplifications as well as promotional measures. These include pruning the list of industries that can be considered as defence industries requiring industrial license, two extensions of two years each in the initial validity of three years of the industrial license permitted up to seven years, removal of stipulation of annual capacity in the industrial license, and deregulating the annual capacity for defence items for Industrial License. Certain instances of inverted duty structure affecting domestic industry have been addressed. The recent amendments in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy include allowing FDI in Defence up to 49% and FDI in Railway infrastructure up to 100%, easing the norms for FDI in construction and exempting FDI in medical devices from sectoral restrictions of pharmaceuticals.

 Improvement in ‘Ease of Doing Business’ in India through simplification and rationalization of the existing rules and use of information technology to make governance more efficient and effective has been taken up. Integration of 14 Central Services through the e-Biz Platform has been already completed. The Government has launched a “Make in India” initiative with 25 thrust sectors to provide a major push to manufacturing in India. Information on the thrust sectors has been put up on ‘Make in India’s web portal (http://www.makeinindia.com) along with details of FDI Policy, National Manufacturing Policy, Intellectual Property Rights and the envisaged National Industrial Corridors including the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor. An Investor Facilitation Cell, with back end support up to the State level has also been created in ‘Invest India’ to assist, guide, hand-hold and facilitate investors during the various phases of the business life cycle. The ordinance has been issued to make land acquisition easier for important projects. The Government has also developed unified Web Portal ‘Shram Suvidha’ facilitating industries in allotment of Unique Labour Identification Number (UN) to units; allowing filing a single self-certified online return for 16 labour laws; enabling random computerized inspections based on objective criteria and facilitating reports to be uploaded by inspectors within 72 hours of inspection.

 This information was given by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) in the Ministry of Commerce & Industry Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.