Odisha is expected to have a number of manufacturing clusters as the Government of India in a major overhaul of the country's manufacturing strategy is all set to devise a National Master Plan for Manufacturing Clusters.
As the State is moving ahead in Ease of Doing Business and trying to attract large numbers of investors in various fields, Odisha as an eastern State will be one of the major beneficiaries of the new and innovative programme, said sources in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
As DIPP Secretary Ramesh Abhisek is favourably disposed of towards Odisha, the State is likely to reap the benefits, feel officials. And, for formulation of the national plan, the State Governments like Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Utter Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra have been roped in the National Committee, said sources.
It is expected that the Union Government is likely to finalise a Comprehensive Master Plan for Manufacturing Clusters by September, said sources.
The plan would identify infrastructure support, including plug-and-play facilities, forward and backward linkages and provide incentives, said Joint Secretary DIPP Vandana Kumar.
Kumar has written to the State Government in this regard and has said that the master plan will bring convergence in multiple models of industrial clusters and industrial parks adopted by both the State and the Centre.
She said that the national plan will channelise Government funds in a most optimised manner, identify infrastructure support and linkages as well as facilitate the Ease of Doing Business.
The DIPP has started mapping the agricultural, horticultural crops and mineral sector. A national portal has been developed to put all the related information on infrastructure across the country available, including the forward and backward linkage and it is first of its kind of a collaborative initiative for mapping industrial eco-system using GIS platform in the country.
Odisha is leading in these fronts and it has vast scope to develop the manufacturing clusters, so the officials have urged the State authorities to take advantage and be a part of the formulation of national plan for manufacturing sector, said an official in DIPP.
As this is a collaborative approach, both the State and Union Governments will collaborate for formulation of the national plan. Five lakh hectares of land have been identified for promoting the manufacturing clusters.
The Union Government is betting big on manufacturing through 'Make in India' to create millions of jobs. It is targeting to increase the share of manufacturing in the economy to 25 per cent by 2025 from around 18 per cent now.
Manufacturing Gross Value Added (GVA) is estimated to growth by 7.7 per cent in FY17, more than 6.7 per cent for the entire economy.