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Secretaries to the Government of India vouch for 2023 being a significant milestone in India’s growth story

Dec 09, 2023

NEW DELHI, 09 December 2023: Addressing FICCI’s 96th Annual General Meeting and Annual Convention, on the theme- ‘The World’s Growth Engine’, Secretaries to the Government of India vouched for 2023 being a significant milestone in India’s growth story.

Addressing the session with Government of India Secretaries on Day 2 of FICCI’s AGM and Annual Convention, Mr NN Sinha, Secretary, Ministry of Steel, Govt of India, said that there has been an increased focus on reduction of carbon emissions in steel industry through promotion of energy and resource efficiency. There is also an enhanced use of renewable energy for decarbonisation of the steel sector in India.

He further stated that the import intensity in this sector has substantially come down from 10 per cent to five per cent. “One of the critical developments is the introduction of the carbon credit trading scheme by the Ministry of Power through the Bureau of Energy Efficiency. The scheme aims to measure the carbon embedded in different products,” he said.

Mr S Krishnan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Govt of India, said that 2023 has been quite a remarkable year for the electronics and IT sector.

“PLI scheme for mobile phones is one of the most successful PLI schemes launched by Govt of India", he said. PLI scheme has played an important role in boosting India's mobile and electronic hardware manufacturing and exports. This initiative drives localisation, and employment. A step towards Digital India's self-reliance journey.

The passing of the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, too, was a significant milestone for the Ministry, he added. It is a key regulation that can ensure a balance between the need for privacy and security of personal data. The draft rules for same will be enlisted in coming weeks.

The expansion of global capacity centres in India in the IT industry saw a huge increase in the number of employments generated throughout the year. Taking about the emerging technologies, AI, ML, Blockchain & IoT and other regulatory achievements, he added that the significant positioning of Digital Public Infrastructure through G-20 turned out to be a major success for India.

Ms Anita Praveen, Secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Govt of India, noted, “The Prime Minister Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PMFME) scheme launched under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan with an outlay of INR 10,000 crore, supports two lakh micro food processing enterprises following the One District One Product (ODOP) approach.”

The food processing industry has been growing at nine per cent consistently since 2018, while the ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook sector has grown substantially to 13- 14 per cent. The PLI scheme has added over two lakh employment in the sector.

She further added that the food processing sector seamlessly goes from agriculture to the industrial sector. Given the abundance of raw materials, this sector that has the full potential of being ‘100 per cent Made in India.’

Mr Bhupinder Singh Bhalla, Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Govt. of India, said that India has been ‘galloping in the last few years.’  “While there still is a long way to go, as of October 2023, we have already achieved 179-180 GW of Renewable Energy in India. Our target is now to march to 500 GW of non-fossils energy by 2030. The next seven years, therefore, is an ambitious target and we are confident that we should be able to do it,” he said.

The government has standardized the processes and systems. The industry and the banking and financial system are confident and have bestowed their trust in this. RE is a vast field and apart from setting up capacities, we have also started the ‘Hydrogen Mission.’ Public announcements have been made of setting up 5.8 mn metric tonnes of green hydrogen per annum. To fund these aspirational targets, we need about 27 lakh crores of investment in Renewable Energy capacities, much of it will have to come from within India,” he noted.

 Mr Atul Kumar Tiwari, Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Govt of India, said that skilling is considered and found to be the missing link for India to become the world’s growth engine.

India’s skilling problem can be solved only if there is a congruence between what education sector is doing. “We have done fundamental changes that is going to alter the education skilling ecosystem. The ‘Skill India Digital Mission’ is like UPI for skill development,” he said.

The government is laying the foundation for international skilling centres to be a platform for upskilling in terms of digital education. The secretary also noted that the role of private organisations in CSR is a crucial medium for upskilling.

Mr Arunish Chawla, Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Govt. of India, said, “India has already earned the sobriquet of being the pharmacy of the world, thanks to the industry doyens who have set up a large and an export-oriented industry. To put things into perspective, the Indian pharma industry, which is the third largest in the world, is valued at USD 50- 60 bn with half of it being export-oriented. The last year, the Indian pharma industry exported, nearly, USD 25 bn worth of end products across the world.”

“In the Meditech sector, where we were dependent on exports by over 90 per cent, about 136 products have been taken up for manufacturing under the PLI for Medical Devices and this not only includes Indian companies, but also global firms that are producing high-tech medical equipment like imaging and cancer therapy, among others. By 2030, the Indian pharma and Meditech sector will undergo significant change and we would be deepening strategic depth along with value chain,” he further added.

The session was moderated by Ms Shereen Bhan, Managing Editor, CNBC-TV18.

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