Government forms task force on capital goods to tackle irritants

NEW DELHI: The Heavy Industries Ministry has set up a task force to sketch out a road map for the country's capital goods sector.

The joint task force, which includes representatives from industry body CII, will provide inputs on the national capital goods policy to address issues faced by the sector.

"The Ministry of Heavy Industries has constituted a joint task force...on the capital goods sector with an objective to realise the potential under the Make-in-India theme," said a statement issued by CII.

The government had sought suggestions for the policy, looking to increase the sector's contribution to the total manufacturing activity to 20 per cent from the current 12 per cent by 2025.

"The first-ever policy for the sector would act as a catalyst and game-changer for this critical industry. Since the capital goods sector serves, in many ways, as the 'engine' of India's industrial growth, a strong sector is critical to achieving the aspiration of the 'Make in India' campaign," CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee said.

The paper outlines key strategic pillars, and areas of focus include creation of an enabling eco-system, creation and expansion of market, promotion of exports, development of human resources, enhancement of technology & intellectual property rights (IPR), focus on SMEs and building necessary support services.

India's share in global exports vis-a-vis capital goods is still low across various sub-sectors, ranging between 0.1-0.6 per cent. In contrast, the figure for China is between 7.7 per cent and 16.3 per cent, depending on the sub-sector.

Capital goods contributes significantly to exports with over Rs 52,000 crore in 2013-14, which has grown at approximately 20 per cent per annum over the last decade.