Growth in manufacturing can stem trade deficit, create jobs: Vice President

Mumbai, Dec 27 (IANS) Vice President Hamid Ansari on Tuesday said that growth in manufacturing can be a possible long term solution to stem an increasing trade deficit and can generate employment for millions of youth.

Delivering the M. Visvesvaraya Memorial lecture here, he said that major challenges presently facing the Indian economy include an increasing trade deficit, and the need to generate employment for millions of youth joining the workforce.

"We are recognised for our services sector that contributes more than 60 per cent to India's GDP. It, however, does not account for as many jobs, contributing only 15 per cent of employment.

"Growth in manufacturing can be a possible long term solution to meet the twin challenges of an increasing trade deficit and the need to generate employment for millions of youth joining our workforce," the Vice President observed.

For this he advocated adoption of global standards.

"Global standards are becoming an increasingly important factor in our way of life, ensuring the safety and quality of products and services, facilitating international trade and improving the environment in which we live in," said Ansari.

He said that Indian manufacturing needs to improve in terms of productivity and efficiency to compete in a globalised market.

The Vice President said that the global technology standard has become the source of a core competitive edge for industrial development, and the standardisation process needs to become much more transparent so that interested parties can better understand the potential competitive effects of particular standards.

"Countries desiring to participate in international business need to be prepared to adopt standards, conventions and model laws that the major trading nations have already implemented as part of their law," he said.

Remembering Visvesvaraya, Ansari said he was an engineering genius who believed in hard work and perfection and had he been here today, his advice would be to innovate, excel and create things that were world class.