'Robust manufacturing needed for India to achieve 10% growth'

India would need a employment generating robust manufacturing sector to achieve an annual growth of 10 per cent, a top government official said today.
"If India has to grow at 9-10 per cent per annum and if India has to create jobs for its very large population then to my mind we have to drive our manufacturing.
"Manufacturing cannot be driven unless and until India becomes innovation led economy and therefore innovation has to be the backbone of India's growth," Secretary in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) Amitabh Kant said here at a Ficci function on IPR.

Manufacturing, which constitutes over 75 per cent of the index of industrial production (IIP), declined 3.7 per cent in February as against growth of 2.1 per cent in the same month a year ago.
During April-February, the sector's output contracted 0.7 per cent compared with 1 per cent growth previously.
India's economic growth expected to clock a decade-low figure of 4.9 per cent in FY 2013-14.

To boost manufacturing sector's growth, the government has proposed setting up mega industrial zones in different parts of the country.
The National Manufacturing Policy aims at increasing contribution of manufacturing to the national GDP from current 16 per cent to 25-26 per cent by 2025 and creating 100 million jobs in the next decade.

Kant also said the private sector needs to encourage more creativity, innovative efforts and inventions to achieve better market leadership and increase its competitiveness in the global market.