'Make India manufacturing hub'

Infosys Chairman and Chief Mentor N R Narayan Murthy today said India should aim at becoming a hub for manufacturing after establishing itself as a software services destination.

"Making India an outsourcing and offshore manufacturing destination in a big way would create millions of jobs for those now in rural areas," he said at the inauguration of a global Customs meet. But for that the country has to go beyond software and include manufacturing, as China has done, he added.

He said 26 per cent of the GDP of India is produced by a whopping 65 per cent of the people in rural areas by way of agriculture. "It means that one is looking at $320 (per capita GDP) for 65 per cent of people. What it means is less than a dollar a day."

He added, "If we have to make life better for the rural people and give them reasonable standards of living, disposable incomes, healthcare and nutrition and education, I believe we have to look at low-tech manufacturing to start with and then high-tech manufacturing in a big way just as China has done, as most of these people are semi-literate or educated at a very basic level. If we have to bring in low-tech and medium-tech manufacturing to create millions of jobs for these people. Then we have to enhance our supply chains."