The Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr Anand Sharma, on Friday said the Government will notify five additional mega manufacturing zones by August.
Speaking at a CII function, Mr Sharma said, “Seven NMIZs (National Manufacturing and Investment Zones) have been notified, that includes two in Maharashtra. There are five more in the pipeline and I think by August we will notify those.”
The development comes days after the Government announced the setting up of a Manufacturing Industry Promotion Board headed by Mr Sharma to review the manufacturing sector and supervise the National Manufacturing Policy (NMP) implementation.
The establishment of NMIZs is envisaged under the NMP, which aims to increase the share of manufacturing in the GDP to 25 per cent by 2020 from the current 16 per cent and generate 100 million jobs.
Earlier, addressing a FICCI function, Mr Sharma said India's strategy to reach out to new markets in Asia, Africa and Latin America has paid off, adding that the country is on course to achieve the export target of $500 billion by 2013-14.
Free trade pacts
He said India, through Free Trade Agreements, has sought to enhance its presence in new and emerging markets and added that “We are close to concluding a broad-based trade and investment agreement with the EU.”
A ministerial level meeting is slated for June 26 between Mr Sharma and the EU Trade Commissioner to take the talks forward.
The Director-General of Foreign Trade, Dr Anup K. Pujari, said the Government will soon come out with a mechanism to issue export obligation discharge certificates over-the-counter.