Govt working on new industrial policy to help link domestic industry with global supply chain: Suresh Prabhu

The government is working on a new industrial policy that will help link domestic industry with the global supply chain. It aims at promoting emerging sectors and modernising the existing industries. The proposed new industrial policy, to be released soon, will replace the industrial policy of 1991, which was prepared in the backdrop of the balance of payment crisis, Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu on Wednesday said. He said that the auto component industry has successfully used this linkage to promote the sector’s growth. “We are coming out soon with the new industrial policy. We are giving final touches to it. It has many components. One key element is how do you link industry with global supply chains,” he said in New Delhi. The proposed policy also look to reduce regulatory hurdles and encourage adoption of frontier technologies such as robotics and artificial intelligence. The ministry in August last year had floated a draft industrial policy with an aim to create jobs for the next two decades, promote foreign technology transfer and attract $100 billion foreign direct investment (FDI) annually. [caption id=“attachment_4208977” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Suresh Prabhu. AFP[/caption] Prabhu also said that the ministry is looking at ways to increase exports of auto components. Further, he added that to deal with the hurdles of logistics related issues, the ministry is preparing a plan. On Thursday, speaking on ‘India Ideas Summit’ at the US-India Business Council (USIBC), Prabhu said that with phenomenal changes in social and economic sector reforms, India will become a five-trillion-dollar economy in seven years from the present 2.6 trillion dollars. He said that the GDP growth of 8.3 per cent in the last quarter will be consolidated and continue going forward and India would certainly become a 10-trillion-dollar economy by 2035. Expressing hope that the Make In India initiative will become an even bigger success in the future, Prabhu said: “Start-ups are the best laboratory for change and innovation. We already have around 20,000 start-ups registered with DIPP and are promoting in a major way across the country.” On the agriculture and horticulture growth, Prabhu said the government aims to double the income of farmers by 2022, while the country notched the highest export growth in the past six years in fiscal 2017-2018. With inputs from agencies