Karnataka's industry body makes action plan to revive mfg
Updated: May 21, 2013 04:42:42pm
Bangalore, May 21 (KNN) Karnataka’s apex industry body, Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC) has urged the new Karnataka government to revive the manufacturing sector to ensure economic prosperity of the state.
Welcoming the new Congress government, BCIC members met the chief minister and submitted a 5-point action plan to revive the state's sagging economy with a strategy on kick-starting the manufacturing.
Manufacturing is a crucial component in any growth road map, according to the president of BCIC, M Lakshminarayan, particularly in generating employment, which is the need of the hour.
“For implementing economic agenda we have laid out five broad themes around which the new government can focus its efforts on revitalising manufacturing,” he said.
The action plan was sent as an 'economic agenda’ for the new Congress government in the state that took charge a week ago.
The five points of the plan were focused on infrastructure, skill development, urban renewal, SME revitalisation and institutions and governance.
Elaborating on the strategy to revive the manufacturing sector whose growth stagnated during the last couple of years owing to political instability in the state and bureaucratic inaction, he said pressure on agriculture and services sector had necessitated a renewed focus on manufacturing for reviving the state's economy and employment generation.
"The new government will have to focus on creation of world class infrastructure, skill development, urban renewal, revitalising the small and medium enterprises (SME) and strengthening governance and institutions," Lakshminarayanan said.
With regard to the MSME sector, BCIC suggested that the government focus on sectors that are competitive — textiles, auto components, aerospace and defence and biotech — and those which were quite labour intensive.
SME businesses both manufacturing and services have the potential to mushroom and add value to the larger industries that state is attracting. Selective strengthening of MSME initiative in the industrial policy should be considered.
Furthermore, BCIC wants secured access in the state to utilities such as power, water at global rates and enable various locations in Karnataka to readily access international supply chain linkage through ports/airports. The apex body also wants the government to create a logistics hub in the state for international entry/exit of goods and inland distribution.
According to the BCIC, as Karnataka had a good skill base, it needed to make significant investment in skill development to enhance manufacturing sector growth. Only a massive investment will create the necessary ecosystem of skills for each industry (to supply the full range of skills such as design, prototype, maintenance, operations, logistics, and training, R&D, sales and marketing.
The industry is keen to see urban renewal in Bangalore and the development of 10-15 Tier 2 cities in the state in a distributed manner with a planned approach to these cities based on their factor endowments.
BCIC has also highlighted the need to make academic institutions more attractive so they set up base in the state and become hubs for attracting young talent, conducting research, and sparking innovation.
Also, the government should institutionalise a more transparent policy and procedure for land acquisition and development for industrial development.
The action plan also calls for setting up agro and food processing parks and remove double taxation in the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act.
"We have suggested that the state government should leverage the proposed Mumbai-Bangalore corridor, proposed by the central government," the agenda observed.
"The chief minister assured us to look into our agenda and call soon for an official meeting to prioritise and implement the action plan for restoring the high growth with investments that will create thousands of jobs over the next five years," Lakshminarayanan said. (KNN)
Welcoming the new Congress government, BCIC members met the chief minister and submitted a 5-point action plan to revive the state's sagging economy with a strategy on kick-starting the manufacturing.
Manufacturing is a crucial component in any growth road map, according to the president of BCIC, M Lakshminarayan, particularly in generating employment, which is the need of the hour.
“For implementing economic agenda we have laid out five broad themes around which the new government can focus its efforts on revitalising manufacturing,” he said.
The action plan was sent as an 'economic agenda’ for the new Congress government in the state that took charge a week ago.
The five points of the plan were focused on infrastructure, skill development, urban renewal, SME revitalisation and institutions and governance.
Elaborating on the strategy to revive the manufacturing sector whose growth stagnated during the last couple of years owing to political instability in the state and bureaucratic inaction, he said pressure on agriculture and services sector had necessitated a renewed focus on manufacturing for reviving the state's economy and employment generation.
"The new government will have to focus on creation of world class infrastructure, skill development, urban renewal, revitalising the small and medium enterprises (SME) and strengthening governance and institutions," Lakshminarayanan said.
With regard to the MSME sector, BCIC suggested that the government focus on sectors that are competitive — textiles, auto components, aerospace and defence and biotech — and those which were quite labour intensive.
SME businesses both manufacturing and services have the potential to mushroom and add value to the larger industries that state is attracting. Selective strengthening of MSME initiative in the industrial policy should be considered.
Furthermore, BCIC wants secured access in the state to utilities such as power, water at global rates and enable various locations in Karnataka to readily access international supply chain linkage through ports/airports. The apex body also wants the government to create a logistics hub in the state for international entry/exit of goods and inland distribution.
According to the BCIC, as Karnataka had a good skill base, it needed to make significant investment in skill development to enhance manufacturing sector growth. Only a massive investment will create the necessary ecosystem of skills for each industry (to supply the full range of skills such as design, prototype, maintenance, operations, logistics, and training, R&D, sales and marketing.
The industry is keen to see urban renewal in Bangalore and the development of 10-15 Tier 2 cities in the state in a distributed manner with a planned approach to these cities based on their factor endowments.
BCIC has also highlighted the need to make academic institutions more attractive so they set up base in the state and become hubs for attracting young talent, conducting research, and sparking innovation.
Also, the government should institutionalise a more transparent policy and procedure for land acquisition and development for industrial development.
The action plan also calls for setting up agro and food processing parks and remove double taxation in the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act.
"We have suggested that the state government should leverage the proposed Mumbai-Bangalore corridor, proposed by the central government," the agenda observed.
"The chief minister assured us to look into our agenda and call soon for an official meeting to prioritise and implement the action plan for restoring the high growth with investments that will create thousands of jobs over the next five years," Lakshminarayanan said. (KNN)
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