District-level meets lined up to assist manufacturers

In a bid to build healthy competition between districts and create awareness on investments in industries and related issues, the Gujarat government has decided to organise round table conferences at the district level. These are scheduled to be started from the end of this month.

At the inaugural function of a trade fair at Vallabh Vidyanagar in Anand today, chief minister Narendra Modi said: "The ability of Gujarat to become a sound base for manufacturing has taken a back seat as the state has the identity of a trader. In fact, we have a huge base of manufacturing units in the state. We need to address the issues limiting investments in manufacturing. The round table conferences at the district level will explore opportunities in manufacturing".

The proposed exercise will also supplement the goals of GDP growth of the state government.

"Attracting investors should not remain the domain of the state government only; it should become a subject of the district administration too. The push to the manufacturing sector would help the state to meet the goal of 10.2 per cent growth of GDP as expected by the Planning Commission," said Modi.

State level bureaucrats from various departments would participate in the round table conferences. They would explore areas such as new investments, possibilities of expansion, desired infrastructure and assistance from the state government. Modi also stressed on identifying countries where units from the state can tap.

"There are number of countries that do not have manufacturing abilities for certain products in spite of having a huge demand. We should identify such niche markets," he said.