Unanimity in govt on manufacturing policy: Sharma

In an effort to play down the objections raised by the Ministry of Labour and Ministry of Environment and Forests, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma on Friday said there was “complete unanimity” within the government to bring out an overarching National Manufacturing Policy that would seek to attract investments and generate employment.

Referring to a meeting of the high-level committee on manufacturing chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the minister said a committee of secretaries under the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister would be modifying the draft policy in the next 30 days.

“A very strong consensus was reached (in the PM meeting). There are a few areas where fine-tuning is required. PM has directed that to be completed in 30 days. The policy, as such, has broad endorsement from all … Land and labour issues are minor issues and those will be resolved once the secretaries would be meeting,” Sharma told reporters here.

The proposed National Manufacturing and Investment Zones are expected to be double in sizes than that of Special Economic Zones.