Govt.-industry panel drives policy to revive manufacturing

What is the News?

The meeting between the Minister for Commerce and the private Industry soon after the national lockdown was announced in 2020 has led to the setting up of the SCALE Committee.

What is the SCALE Committee?

SCALE Committee stands for Steering Committee for Local Value Addition, Manufacturing and Exports(SCALE)

It is a joint government-industry panel aimed at navigating Indian manufacturing away from the import-dependence pitfalls exposed by the pandemic.

The committee is looking at ways to increase localisation, component manufacturing and employment in various industries.

It is working on such ideas for 17 sectors — from toys, textiles, furniture and e-cycles to drones and even fisheries. 

How is SCALE Committee different from other committees?

First, it has no deadlines and drafts and no voluminous reports — all its proposals are laid out in a presentation at best. 

Second, it doesn’t just gather ideas from various sectoral players and splash them together for the government to consider, as usual, industry representations tend to be. 

Third, it follows a rigorous process of consultations to align different factions of the industry with varying agendas at multiple levels and tries to nudge an alignment of interests where differences seem intractable, before it takes up the relevant issues with the government.

Source: This post is based on the article “Govt.-industry panel drives policy to revive manufacturing” published in The Hindu on 27th Sep 2021.