Niti Aayog studies Chinese coastal manufacturing zones

Government think-tank Niti Aayog is studying China's coastal manufacturing zones, a move that can help India develop its 7,500 km of coastline and help the country further strengthen its export potential.
During the recently-concluded fourth round of India-China Strategic Economic Dialogue last week, Aayog has proposed closer interaction with China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) for analysing the Communist nation's "huge success" with coastal manufacturing zones (CMZs).
"We want to study China's experience with the coastal economic zones and port-led development in China where the cities were granted special status to open coastal cities. They enjoy special policies. Aayog wants to analyse them," Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya told reporters here.

"Aayog has proposed closer interaction with NDRC on understanding China's huge success in developing such zones and analyse their experience."
In the next one year, both premier policy-making bodies will bring together stakeholders from both the sides to analyse the coastal manufacturing zones.
The issue is being discussed under the Working Group on Policy Coordination. Coastal states of Gujarat, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka as well as CEO of Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation participated in the meetings of the group.

In China, under the special economic zones, investors can set up their manufacturing base and get incentives like tax exemption, speedy regulatory clearance, round-the-clock power and security. They have played a crucial role in making the People's Republic a global manufacturing powerhouse.

Coastal states such as Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have a huge potential to set up such manufacturing zones.
Such zones are expected to not only help India produce for domestic market, but strengthen exports and at the same time set up export units at a single place on the coast, saving operational as well as logistics cost.
Set up in December 2010, the India-China Strategic Economic Dialogue has held four meetings, including the one that ended last week.
The fourth-round of dialogue, which was led by Panagariya from the Indian side and NDRC Chairman Xu Shaoshi from China, met under the theme of 'development, innovation and cooperation for mutual benefit'.

Both nations exchanged views on the global economic trends and the macro-economic situation and held in-depth discussions on enhancing bilateral cooperation.
The two sides agreed on contribution to global economic recovery and growth, developments in Indian and Chinese economies and bilateral cooperation, among others.