India maps industrial park route to turn factory giant

Plan for mega parks providing designated space to companies follows China model

- Jessica Jani & Mihir Mishra

MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: India is finally going the industrial park way to streamline the country's manufacturing ecosystem, bearing in mind neighbour China's phenomenal success through this approach.

The Centre is working on a plan to build more than 20 dedicated, mega industrial parks across the country by 2030, two officials aware of the matter said. The objective is to make India the third-largest contributor to global manufacturing from fifth currently. The ministries of pharmaceuticals, textiles, petroleum and natural gas, and commerce are involved in these discussions.

The plan is to build five chemical and petrochemical manufacturing hubs, seven textile parks, five leather and footwear parks, four medical devices parks, and three bulk drugs parks, providing designated space to companies in the sector, the officials cited above said on the condition of anonymity.