Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi (SP)
New Delhi, Dec 1: Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, is likely to announce long-awaited industrial policy shortly. The policy is expected to be drafted in such a way as to encourage spurt of industrial activities before the Lok Sabha election. It is said that some major changes in the existing rules governing setting up of industries are proposed to be included in the policy. The government would be making huge effort to attract investment amounting to seven lac crore rupees in this sector.
Sources say that as per the proposed policy, companies which want to set up new industries need not acquire land. They can take land on lease, which will considerably reduce the expenses. It has also been decided to make rules covering sharing of infrastructure by companies with other companies. Ramesh Abhishek, secretary in the department of industrial policy and promotion, said that the new industrial policy will pave way for huge shift in sectors like technology, cutting expenditure, transport system improvement, providing skilled labour.
Because of liquidity crunch faced by the banks during the last three months, GDP came down from 8.1 to 7.1 percent during this period. The country was wriggling out of demonetization of currency and GST implementation, when the liquidity crunch unexpectedly created bottlenecks. It is said that Modi believes that unless immediate steps are taken to promote industrial sector, it would be difficult to face the ire of the people during the coming Lok Sabha election.
Modi government wants to meet the promise it had made during the 2014 election, of generating one crore new jobs. Therefore, the PM is now facing the need to make large scale changes and improvements in the government policies. It has therefore been decided to lay more emphasis on extending concessions to small and medium scale industries which form 90 percent of Indian economy. The Delhi - Mumbai industrial corridor project with an investment of seven lac crore rupees is also being finalized after being in the limbo for a number of years. Several companies have set up their factories, and projects worth two lac crore rupees have been completed. However, these will take a few months to begin working and start contributing to the growth of economy.