Industry associations have hailed the labour reforms initiative taken up by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, as they feel that they would aid in making the 'Make in India' movement a success.
It was felt that the Government should also launch special schemes to help the MSME sector in view of its important role in employment generation and in dispersal of economic prosperity.
In a statement, Prem Malik, Chairman, Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI), said the "rigid labour laws'' were a "major hindrance'' for fresh investment and scaling up of production in the textile sector as it was labour intensive.
He felt that the 'Shramev Jayate' programme, along with the 'Make in India' initiative that the Prime Minister had earlier announced, would benefit the textile sector in a significant way.
The CITI Chairman said the labour reforms would give a boost for large-scale investment and for increasing production capacity, aiding exports.
He felt that the government was looking at the need for an "industry-friendly and worker-friendly labour regime'' and hoped that the Centre would keep up the momentum in liberalising labour laws.
The Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Coimbatore (ICCIC) President, D Nandakumar, hailed the move to simplify procedures and the launch of a unified Web portal for complying with labour laws as it would help "avoid harassment of officials''.
He described the steps announced by the Prime Minister as benefiting the youngsters, workers and employers as they would improve businesses and also help in training workers.
E K Ponnuswamy, President, Coimbatore District Small Industries Association (Codissia), welcomed the steps announced by the Prime Minister like Unified Labour Identification Number, new labour inspection scheme, reduction in the number of returns to be filed by the employers etc.
He wanted the Government to initiate special steps to boost investment in the MSME sector in view of the crucial role played by it in creating employment opportunities and in overall economic prosperity.