FM stresses MFRG sector have to grow on a big scale
22 Dec '07
2 min read
The Finance Minister, Shri P Chidambaram has stressed the need for strengthening the manufacturing sector to provide large scale employment opportunities for the ever increasing youth population.
Speaking at a function in Mumbai to mark the 70th Anniversary of India's leading engineering company, Larsen & Toubro, the Finance Minister observed, that India is set to become the only large country where working population will be higher than the dependent population.
He said that since, only 5 per cent of the youth will be vocationally skilled, the services sector, which accounts for 55% of our GDP will not able to absorb them in large numbers.
To ensure employment opportunities for the youth, Shri Chidambaram said, the Manufacturing sector, which now accounts for 28 per cent of GDP, will have to grow and expand its activities on a big scale.
He said, professionally managed, technology driven companies like L&T, which he placed in a newly coined 'national sector', are needed in more numbers.
Shri Chidambaram lamented Indian companies for not thinking big and lacking speed in project implementation, as compared to their Chinese counterparts.
He said, the completion of Greenfield airports at Hyderabad and Bangalore, ahead of schedule, is more of an exception than a rule.
The Finance Minister revealed a startling figure of Rs 48,961 crores rupees lost in 301 projects due to delays in completion.
The Minister said that India was more than a match for China in entrepreneurship, managerial skills and business environment.
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