Hi-tech export volumes still limited

Hi-tech product exports, which now contribute only 11 per cent to India's export basket, needs to be increased if India has to figure in the global market, the secretary, department of industrial policy and promotion, R R Shah, said at a seminar organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on 'Manufacturing Excellence and Outsourcing'. Jamshyd Godrej of CII presided over the event.

This figure for China is 21 per cent, while that for Brazil is 16 per cent.

Shah said the manufacturing sector for the last number of years has contributed in a limited fashion to the Gross Domestic Product.

Gross value added as a percentage of GDP in India for the manufacturing sector was 18 per cent which for China was 49 per cent, for Indonesia 47 per cent and Malaysia was 40 per cent.

Shah also said unless the manufacturing sector achieved 14 per cent growth, India will not be able to clock 7 per cent GDP growth.

The agricultural sector was expected to attain a 6 per cent growth, while the services sector was expected to do well. The manufacturing sector according to Shah was expected to achieve growth of about 6.5 per cent.

The secretary said the capital goods sector was showing signs of revival. Surplus capacity had been utilised fully and the sector was poised for a trajectory growth in the next few years.

Shah said as much as 86 per cent of the factors that led to inefficiency in the manufacturing sector were internal and should be controlled by the companies themselves.