MANUFACTURING DREAMS

THE INDIAN GOVERNMENT'S RECENT APPROVAL OF 12 INDUSTRIAL SMART CITIES INDICATES THAT THERE IS STEADY INVESTOR INTEREST AMID EXPECTATIONS OF A REVIVAL IN PRIVATE SECTOR CAPEX BY 2025. WILL THIS LATEST EFFORT TIP THE SCALES IN INDIA'S FAVOUR?

- SURABHI

Manufacturing. the term has become a buzzword for policymakers in India over the past few years as they try to increase its share in the country’s GDP by revving up private sector investments and attracting investors to set up industries. The objective has been two pronged: to transform India into a global manufacturing hub, rivalling, if not surpassing, China; and creating employment for the country’s teeming workforce. But the goal has been elusive till now.

Building on this ambition, the Union Cabinet had in August approved 12 industrial smart cities that involve an estimated investment of ₹28,602 crore; have the potential to attract ₹1.5 lakh crore of investments; and create 1 million direct and 3 million indirect jobs.

“If the country has to become developed, it must be self-reliant, produce enough to meet domestic demand, expand its exports and achieve the target of $2 trillion by 2030, meet the ambitions of the youth and provide them new jobs, encourage start-ups, then manufacturing has to be boosted. It is most important,” Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal had said after the Cabinet’s nod.

These 12 industrial areas are strategically located across 10 states and planned along six major corridors (see graphic ‘On the Anvil’). Combined with four industrial smart cities that have been built already and another four projects under construction, the aim is to have a network of 20 industrial smart cities around 11 industrial corridors that would act as infrastructure building blocks to set up industries and manufacturing plants, provide ease of doing business, and improve multimodal connectivity—all requirements for investors.