New Delhi:

Mallikarjun Kharge, the president of the Indian National Congress today said that his party resolves to make the country a manufacturing hub by raising the share of manufacturing from 14% to 20% of GDP in the next five years.

Writing about making (manufacturing) in India on his official X handle, Mr Kharge tweeted, “Congress resolves to make India a manufacturing hub by raising the share of manufacturing from 14% to 20% of GDP in the next 5 years.”

Lauding the Congress’s regime, Mr Kharge claimed that the nation’s manufacturing share of GDP was higher compared to the rule of the BJP.

“It is thus no surprise that in the last 25 years, India’s manufacturing share of GDP has been higher during the Congress rule. On the contrary, in the last 10 years (2014-24), the share of manufacturing has stagnated at just 14%”, he claimed.

Mr Kharge also said, “Congress is determined to make India the manufacturing powerhouse that produces goods and services for itself and the world.”

The Congress leader also said that the party’s immediate objective will be to restore a healthy, fearless and trustworthy climate for businesses.

Elaborating on the party’s goal, Mr Kharge said that the Congress government in 1991 abolished industrial licensing and controls. “The independent regulatory regime that was put in place has deteriorated into a system of overt and covert controls,” he added.

“We will conduct a comprehensive review of the current rules and regulations and repeal or amend them in order to restore freedom to industry, business and trade,” Mr Kharge said.

Describing the Congress’ ambition, Mr Kharge said that the party will aim for India to attain a position of leadership in multiple industries such as steel, metals, garments and textiles, cement, automobiles, electronic goods, pharmaceuticals, engineering goods, petroleum products, chemicals, and mining rare earth and critical minerals.

Putting forward RBI’s data on stalled projects, Mr Kharge said that Congress will revive those projects by taking the help of the private sector. “According to the RBI, nearly 60% of the large central government projects have been stalled or delayed and costs have risen by nearly 5 lakh crores. Congress will address the problem in a mission mode and find ways and means to revive the stalled projects with the help of the private sector,” he said.

Throwing light on the Congress approach, Mr Kharge tweeted, “Congress will reform the production linked incentives (PLI) scheme to target specific sectors that can create thousands of jobs by making India one of the top 5 producers in the world in that sector.”

Mr Kharge also mentioned about introducing an employment-linked incentive scheme. He added, “We will introduce a new employment-linked incentive (ELI) Scheme for corporates to win tax credits for additional hiring against regular, quality jobs.”

Reiterating the party’s opposition to monopolies and oligopolies, Mr Kharge said, “Congress will create a level playing field for all businesses. We are opposed to monopolies and oligopolies. We will strengthen the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to ensure that India will be an open and competitive economy.”

The Congress President also talked about strengthening AI and robotics and said, “We will encourage and support the use of Artificial Intelligence, robotics, etc. which will create new and frontline jobs. At the same time, we will ensure that there are more job opportunities in sectors that use conventional technology.”
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

India will be an important country in terms of manufacturing in future, Young Liu, Chairman and CEO of Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn) has said, his latest comment adding to a growing chorus of global voices acknowledging the country’s bold moves to position itself as electronics and hi-tech production powerhouse.

In an interaction with reporters in Taipei, the top official of the Taiwanese electronics manufacturing giant said the development of the entire ecosystem and industrial chain, and opportunities for development in India are “very, very huge opportunities”.

“If there is no big change, India will be a very important country in terms of manufacturing in the future,” Mr Liu said.

In the past, it took 30 years to build the entire supply chain ecosystem in China, he noted, adding that while it will take an “appropriate amount of time in India” and the process will be shorter given the experience. The environment too is not quite the same, he said pointing to the advent of new technologies like AI and generative AI.

In July this year, while addressing SemiconIndia 2023, Foxconn had said it is optimistic about the direction of India’s semiconductor roadmap and asserted that Taiwan is and will be India’s most trusted and reliable partner.

“Let’s do this together,” the top boss of Foxconn had said at that time.

Government sources noted that the Foxconn chief is backing PM’s Make-in-India.

Mr Liu has expressed that reforms and policies in India have created huge opportunities for the development of the entire electronics manufacturing ecosystem, the sources said citing the recent media briefing in Taipei where Liu spoke to reporters.

It is pertinent to mention that India is wooing global IT and electronics players with policy sweeteners and incentive schemes, making a push to position itself as a global hub for hi-tech manufacturing.

India hopes to play on the strength of its storied talent and skill base, vibrant market, and enabling policies to corner a substantial chunk of new investments flowing into electronics and semiconductor production, and global value chains.

Recently, as many as 40 companies, including big names like Foxconn Group, HP, Dell and Lenovo, applied for incentives under India’s Production Linked Incentive (PLI) IT hardware scheme for manufacturing laptops, PCs and servers.

Last month, Foxconn also said it sees the potential of investing several billions of dollars in India if it gets to completely implement its plan.

Mr Liu during Foxconn’s second quarter earnings call in August had said that the company’s Indian arm has achieved a turnover of close to USD 10 billion on an annual basis and there is a lot of investment potential in India.

He had said Foxconn operates about nine campuses in India.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Watch | Is India’s ‘Make-at-home’ good industrial policy?

The government of India introduced restrictions on the import of laptops and tablets. The restriction is that only on prior grant of licence can any import take place. This was with immediate effect. With some intense pushback from the industry, the effective date has been deferred to November 1.

Why this move suddenly? Is it to ensure key electronic products do not come from an unfriendly neighbour? Or is this an attempt to encourage local manufacturing and give a nudge to job creation?

Whatever the answers are, the more critical poser is, will this move serve its purpose?

Script and production: K. Bharat Kumar

Videography: Thamodharan Bharath

Production: Shibu Narayan