Focus on innovation to boost manufacturing sector: NMCC

NEW DELHI: Indian companies need to focus on innovation to boost the manufacturing sector that will help the government to achieve inclusive growth, a senior official said today.

"We need to succeed in manufacturing. Success in manufacturing without innovation is going to be difficult," National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council ( NMCC) Member Secretary Ajay Shankar said here at a CII function.

NMCC was set up by the government to suggest ways to enhance competitiveness in the manufacturing sector of the country.

He said that companies should encourage junior employees to come out with new and innovative ideas.

The sector's growth is fundamental for inclusive growth of the country, he added.

The government is taking several steps to boost manufacturing sector growth as it would lead to job creation and boost country's economy.

The government had already announced a national manufacturing policy (NMP) that aims at raising the share of manufacturing to 25 per cent of GDP by 2022 from the current 16 per cent.

The NMP envisages setting up of national investment and manufacturing zones, which are industrial townships, benchmarked to the best manufacturing hubs in the world.

Manufacturing, which constitutes over 75 per cent of the index, declined 1.2 per cent in March against a growth of 4.3 per cent a year earlier.

During FY 2013-14, the sector's output contracted 0.8 per cent as compared with 1.3 per cent growth previously.