Apex Industry body Assocham is organising a manufacturing conference-cum-awards themed ‘Transform and Perform’ to bring together relevant stakeholders of manufacturing sector on one stage on August 22 at Hotel Shangri-La in New Delhi.

MSME Minister Kalraj Misha, Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu, DoNER Minister Jitendra Singh, Heavy Industries & Public Emergencies Minister Anant G Geete, and HRD MoS Mahendra Nath Pandey are expected to grace the occasion.

The main objective of the event is to bring the stakeholders on a common platform and suggest a road-map for framing an inclusive manufacturing strategy encompassing heavy, micro, small, medium and large enterprises and start-ups in the manufacturing sector, and also achieve broad-based and sustainable growth in manufacturing to increase the share of manufacturing sector in India’s GDP from present ~17 per cent to 25 per cent by 2025.

“Because of favourable demographic dividend and reform trajectory followed by the government, India is expected to rank amongst the world’s top-three growth economies and top-three manufacturing destinations by 2020 and the trend of trade equations will be in favour of India,” said Assocham President Sandeep Jajodia.

The event will hold discussions on key points like re-igniting manufacturing, skill manufacturing, achieving sustainable manufacturing excellence, and MSMEs as the foundation for large scale manufacturing.

The conference would completely focus on the potential of Indian manufacturing sector and intends to provide an overview of the present state of Indian manufacturing in terms of important macro and micro parameters. Besides, it will cover policy areas which need major push from the Government.

Government of India is continually engaging with the industry to improve the policy framework which may drastically cut down the cost of doing business in India. Hence, the Assocham conference will cover, amongst others, the areas which have a direct impact on cost and competitiveness of Indian manufacturing.

To recognise the contribution of a State/UT in the nation’s progress, the event will also carry an awards segment wherein states will be conferred awards upon best State’s/UT’s Excellence and Emergence Manufacturing under different categories-

• Best State in Manufacturing in North-East Region

• Best State in Manufacturing in Himalayan Region

• Best State showing Manufacturing Excellence

• Best State showing huge Manufacturing Emergence

• Best Union Territory showing Manufacturing Excellence

Currently there are challenges in the global economy, but India is well placed to transform those challenges into opportunities. Support from the government and competition amongst states to improve their ease of doing business rankings can make Indian manufacturing sector vehicle for employment generation and prosperity.