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The 1500 Megawatt Combined Cycle Power Station Bawana operated by Pragati Power Corp. (PPCL) stands in Bawana, Delhi, India on Tuesday, May 3, 2016. About 25 kilometers (16 miles) northwest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office in New Delhi, a $780 million gas-fired electricity plant that could reduce the choking pollution in India's capital is operating at a fraction of its potential. The facility ran at about a sixth of capacity on Monday, while a much older, belching coal plant some 15 kilometers southeast of central New Delhi provided the biggest share of the city's power generation. Photographer: Udit Kulshrestha/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The government on Wednesday gave its green light to India's first-ever policy on capital goods that intends to make the country a world-class hub and looks to create over 21 million additional jobs by 2025.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi here.
"The policy will help in realising the vision of building India as the world-class hub for capital goods. It will also play a pivotal role in overall manufacturing as the pillar of strength to the vision of Make in India," an official statement read.
"This is the first-ever policy for the capital goods sector with a clear objective of increasing production of capital goods from Rs 2,30,000 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 7,50,000 crore in 2025 and raising direct and indirect employment from the current 8.4 million to 30 million."
The policy envisions increasing the share of capital goods in total manufacturing activity to 20 per cent by 2025, from 12 per cent at present .
"Capital goods manufacturing if it happens in India along with the manufacturing that is going to happen downstream, the entire economy gets a fillip," Union Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu said.
The policy aims to increase direct domestic employment to at least 5 million from the current 1.4 million and indirect employment to 25 million from the current 7 million by 2025, potentially providing an additional employment to over 21 million people.
"The objectives of the policy will be met by the Department of Heavy Industry in a time-bound manner through obtaining approval for schemes as per the road map of policy interventions," according to the statement.
The policy envisages ramping up exports to 40 per cent of production, from the current 27 per cent. It will increase the share of domestic production in India's demand to 80 per cent from 60 per cent, which would make India a net exporter of capital goods.
It also seeks to facilitate improvement in technology depth across sub-sectors, increase skill availability, ensure mandatory standards and promote growth and capacity building of MSMEs.
"The aim of the policy is create game-changing strategies for the capital goods sector. Some of the key issues addressed include availability of finance, raw material, innovation and technology, productivity, quality and environment-friendly manufacturing practices, promoting exports and creating domestic demand," the statement added.
The whole idea is to unlock the potential of this promising sector and establish India as a global manufacturing powerhouse, said the document unveiled earlier this year.
To create an ecosystem for globally-competitive capital goods sector, the policy bats for devising a long-term, stable and rationalised tax and duty structure.
It also advocates adoption of a uniform Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime ensuring effective GST rate across all capital goods sub-sectors with a view to ensuring a level-playing field.
This species is classified as Critically Endangered as it is apparently undergoing a extremely rapid population decline, as measured by numbers on both the breeding and wintering grounds. (Source: http://www.birdlife.org) (credit:MikeLane45 via Getty Images)
Siberian Cranes(02 of10)
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This critically endangered species is now only found in two populations, the eastern and western. A central population of Siberian Cranes once nested in western Siberia and wintered in India. (Source: www.savingcranes.org) In 2002, the last two Siberian cranes of the central flock failed to return to India. Their winter home, Keoladeo National Park, reeled under a drought and there was no water to house the birds. They were not reported from anywhere else in the country. Two more winters passed, and the birds still did not show up. It is now suspected that they are extinct (Source: http://www.wpsi-india.org). (credit:China Photos via Getty Images)
Spoon-billed Sandpiper(03 of10)
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Most researchers believe that two factors are responsible for the Spoon-billed Sandpipers population decline: the elimination of migratory stopover habitat, particularly in the Yellow Sea region, and subsistence hunting on the wintering grounds. (Source: http://www.birds.cornell.edu) (credit:AP)
Whitebellied-Heron(04 of10)
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With roughly 200 White-Bellied Herons (Ardea Insignis) in the world today, herons are among the 50 rarest bird species on earth. Herons mostly dwell in Southeast Asian countries and presumably Bhutan shelters a little over 30 herons in the nation. (Source:WWF) (credit:De Agostini Picture Library via Getty Images)
Bengal Florican(05 of10)
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This bustard has a very small, declining population; a trend that has recently become extremely rapid and is predicted to continue in the near future, largely as a result of the widespread and on-going conversion of its grassland habitat for agriculture. It therefore qualifies as Critically Endangered. (Source: http://www.birdlife.org) (credit:Lip Kee/Flickr)
Great Indian Bustard(06 of10)
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Two years after the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) talked about launching a special conservation programme for the Great Indian Bustard, a critically endangered species, experts are warning that the bird is in danger of becoming extinct. Lack of funds means the central government has made no progress at all on what many say is a critical matter. (Source: LiveMint March 12, 2015 news report) (credit:Koshyk/Flickr)
Sociable Lapwing(07 of10)
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This species is listed as Critically Endangered because its population has undergone a very rapid reduction, for reasons that are poorly understood; this decline is projected to continue and increase in the future. (Source: www.birdlife.org) (credit:UNDP in Europe and Central Asia/Flickr)
Forest Owlet(08 of10)
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Researchers have found the critically endangered ‘Forest Owlet’ in the northern part of the Western Ghats, 100 km from Mumbai. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List has named this bird as the one facing a high risk of extinction. Till now, Forest Owlet was known endemic to Satpuda mountain ranges in central India. Its discovery in the Western Ghats has brought new hope about its survival. (Source: The Hindu on Nov 14., 2014) (credit:AndrijaDjuketic via Getty Images)
Indian Vulture(09 of10)
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This species is classified as Critically Endangered because it has suffered an extremely rapid population decline as a result of mortality from feeding on carcasses of animals treated with the veterinary drug diclofenac. (Source: www.birdlife.org) (credit:STR via Getty Images)
Red headed vulture(10 of10)
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This species has suffered an extremely rapid population reduction in the recent past which is likely to continue into the near future, probably largely as a result of feeding on carcasses of animals treated with the veterinary drug diclofenac, perhaps in combination with other causes. For this reason it is classified as Critically Endangered. (Source: www.birdlife.org) (credit:Jasperboer via Getty Images)
-- This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which
closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions
or concerns about this article, please contact
indiasupport@huffpost.com.