Efforts on to develop India's manufacturing sector: Prabhu

The government was making a conscious effort to diversify the economy and develop the manufacturing sector in India, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said here Thursday.

Prabhu was addressing the inaugural session of the three-day Partnership Summit 2015, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in cooperation with the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, the union commerce and industry ministry and the Rajasthan government.

"A stronger growth in manufacturing and the agriculture sectors would spur growth of the services sector," he said, adding that the country's economy was witnessing a transition of sorts and was becoming stronger.

"The government is taking efforts to make the states partners in growth. It is for this reason that the government set up the NITI Aayog," he said.

Prabhu called upon the industry to partner with the government to accelerate growth in the country.

He said the government was pursuing the introduction of the goods and services tax in the country.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje said her state has undertaken a number of economic reforms, including in labour laws.

"We have amended old outdated labour laws. This has become a model for the rest of the country and the prime minister has called upon other states to follow our model," she said.

In his address, Macedonia's Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski invited the Indian industry to invest in his country.

Highlighting some of the advantages of investing in Macedonia, Gruevski said his country had one of the lowest tax rates in the world.

Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman said India carries the potential to position itself as the leader of economic growth with 1.3 million enterprises and 1.2 billion people, of which over 535 million were under 25 years of age.

The minister said time was ripe to forge new partnerships and break out of the low growth cycle.

She also highlighted the easing of FDI restrictions in railways, defence and construction, labour and land reforms among others.

"It is in this context that the government had formulated several path-breaking initiatives such as the 'Make in India' campaign," she said.

CII president Ajay Shriram, CII director general Chandrajit Banerjee and CII president-designate Sumit Mazumder also spoke on the occasion.