Gift City-like zones, IP-linked schemes key for manufacturing: PwC Chief Sanjeev Krishan
India can set up 5-6 massive zones for manufacturing, similar to the Gift City for financial services, as it moves towards its $1 trillion goods exports target, PwC India chairperson Sanjeev Krishan said.
He spoke to ET on a PwC India report released Friday that said India's $1 trillion goods export target can be achieved one year in advance by fiscal 2029 with appropriate measures.
The report, 'VIKSIT: An approach for India to achieve $1 trillion exports', offers a six-pillar framework for achieving the target.
«Can we have an outsized focus on manufacturing in a setup which is a very similar setup to what has been done for financial services in Gift City? It encourages you to produce… creates a fair amount of employment generation and an entire ecosystem,» Krishan told ET.
These could be outside the production-linked incentive (PLI) framework, he said. «Maybe some of the elements of PLI are not required because it's a very different paradigm. It is a 10-year holiday and then by then, the hope is that you have embedded yourself and managed to scale enough.»
He said these manufacturing zones will have to be on a large geographic area and include the private sector. «It is an entire ecosystem with connectivity and low factor cost so that productivity improves,» Krishan added.
Only 1.36% of India's registered micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) are exporting, revealing a gap between export growth and MSME internationalisation, he said, making a case for including them in the exports push. «Challenges such
