New Delhi :Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu has said the a new industrial policy that will seek to promote emerging sectors will be released early next year.
The proposed policy, the draft of which has been prepared by the Commerce and Industry Ministry, will completely revamp the Industrial Policy of 1991.
The draft policy is ready and the Ministry is now planning to organise eight or nine roadshows to discuss it with all the stakeholders, the Minister told PTI during an interview on Monday.
Among other things, the policy would endeavour to reduce regulations and bring in new industries currently in focus.
“We have to do three things in the new industrial policy. One is to reduce regulations. Why? Because the government cannot run industry… Number two is to promote modernisation of the existing industry as they are facing challenges. And number three will be to take into account the new emerging industry, which is not even seen today,” he said.
The Minister made a point that there is a need to see the impact of emerging sectors like artificial intelligence (AI) on jobs and how they would work in India. Asked by what time the new policy would be released, he replied, “sometime next year”.
The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) in August floated a draft industrial policy with the aim to create jobs for the next two decades, promote foreign technology transfer and attract USD 100 billion in foreign direct investments (FDI) annually.
The department is working to formulate an outcome oriented actionable policy that provides direction and charts a course of action for a globally competitive Indian industry that leverages skill, scale and technology.
Separately, the Ministry is working on a package that will help the gems and jewellery industry boost exports.
The Ministry has already asked the gems and jewellery industry to work out a proper business plan to promote growth in the labour-intenseive sector.
Meanwhile, Prabhu said he had initiated talks with the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh to revive a diamond mine, as reserves of the raw material were not adequate in the country. Earlier, the industry trade body, the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), had demanded a cut in the import duty on gold, from the current 10 per cent to four per cent. India is the world’s second biggest gold consumer after China.
