New Delhi, Dec 30 (KNN) Highlighting the steps taken in 2017, Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu has written to chambers and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) passing wishes for the upcoming year.

Hailing the steps taken towards economy, the Minister said that India continues to march towards greater economic prosperity and constantly showing greenshoots of economic growth.

In the backdrop of government bold decisions such as the introduction o the Goods & Services Tax (GST), India continues display strong macroeconomic fundamentals with 3 year average of 7.5% GDP growth in real terms, forex reserves of over USD 400 billion, the highest since independence and exports valued at USD 26 billion in November 2017, a growth of almost 30% over November2016, the Minister said.

The year 2017 marked the positive change, as was reflected in the shift in manufacturing and export strategy. We worked tirelessly with all stakeholders to provide short term relief to exporters in the wake of GST implementation, Prabhu added.

Further, through the Mid term review of Foreign Trade Policy, annual incentives were increased by 2 per cent for all labour intensive/MSME sectors.

Additionally special relief packages were announced for Leather and Textiles sectors. The Policy aims to shift focus on exploring new markets, new products and on improve ‘Ease of Trading’ to spurt export growth. These are welcome changes, bound to bring bountiful results for the Indian economy.

Prabhu further mentioned about tje recently inaugurated International Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre (IECC) being built at the cost of Rs 2250 Crores.

This, when completed would be a new landmark for Delhi. The importance of such projects for propelling India into a new trajectory of growth and development, cannot be extolled enough, and is in line with the spirit of ‘New India’, he said.

The Government has also identified focus sectors which can boost employment generation and taken specific measures for ensuring the same. A case in point is the Cabinet approval of the special package for employment generation in leather and footwear sector namely "Indian Footwear, Leather &Accessories Development Program" with an approved expenditure of Rs.2600 Crore over the three financial years from 2017-18 to 2019-20. The Special Package has the potential to generate 3.24 lakhs new jobs in 3 years and assist in formalization of 2 lakh jobs as cumulative impact in Footwear, Leather & Accessories Sector.

Discussing the steps his ministry plans to take ahead, Prabhu informed that the ministry is committed to boost domestic manufacturing,increase exports, generate job while encouraging entrepreneurship and enabling us to break away from the pack and lead the race for growth.

In 2018, the government is to lay layered roadmap with focus on enhancing ease oftrading and promoting commodity and services led export growth, investment facilitation and promotion and job creation with a focus on entrepreneurship.

India’s Geographical Indication (GI) products to the world is underway which would lead to immense benefits flowing to rural artisans,farmers and producers in India.

A dedicated trade facilitation and promotion body, as a single point of information and grievance redressal platform is also being established for the same Prabhu added.

To enhance India’s competitiveness of exports, improvement in logistics infrastructure leading to reduced costs and reliably delivery is a key input. In this regard, we would be targeting to develop a comprehensive integrated logistics plan for the country which would facilitate infrastructure development in a structured, effective manner. We would also develop an integrated logistics portal to serve as a single window for approvals and transactions for all stakeholders.

Under the second focus area, formulating and structuring India’s New Industrial Policy to ensure that India not only consolidates but also captures the emerging opportunities is paramount.

With regard to inflow of investments, despite receiving a record USD 60billion of foreign direct investments in 2016-17,the target is to reach USD 100 bn by next year. An Investment War Room has been proposed, to provide a standardized tracking and escalation matrix for foreign and domestic investment projects.

Make in India 2.0 a Job- development initiative, with a focus on 8 future industries and Served by India, the manufacturing equivalent of services, to strengthen our services sector are two of our most exciting and promising initiatives in the upcoming year.

The Minister also mentioned about the key initiatives including Government e-market, Geographical Indication and moving towards digital India. (KNN/DA)