Apparel April 2019 Apparel April 2019 issue | Page 36

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS
WHILE THE ORIGINAL OFFICIAL
LAUNCH OF THE POLICY WAS
EXPECTED TO BE SOMETIME
IN 2018, IT HAS BEEN
PUSHED TO UNTIL AFTER THE
ELECTION.
Policy and Promotion released a draft copy of this
New Industrial Policy which is intended to replace
the current National Manufacturing Policy of India.
This new draft addresses all major areas
of the industry across the following themes:
Manufacturing and MSME; Technology
and Innovation; Ease of Doing Business;
Infrastructure, Investment, Trade and Fiscal
Policy; and Skills and Employability for the future.
In addition to this, the policy also looks to a
Task Force that is focused on exploring Artificial
Intelligence for India’s digital and industrial
transformation. Of course, the focus of the
current government has been to make India a
major manufacturing hub by following the ‘Make
in India’ agenda which has shown mixed results
so far. Since its release, the draft policy has
undergone continuous revisions and updates
based on the responses from the industry,
academia, and political players. And while the
original official launch of the policy was expected
to be sometime in 2018, it has been pushed to
until after the election.
30
I APPAREL I
April 2019
INDUSTRIAL POLICY AND APPAREL
VALUE CHAIN
The key principle of the upcoming New Industrial
Policy is vastly different from what was first
penned down in the 1990s. The apparel industry
is a prime example of how manufacturing has
fundamentally changed. Apparel production
no longer takes place in a closed value chain
within one geography. Indian apparel needs to
coordinate and find its place in a global value
chain that best serves its area of competence
while also allowing it to leverage competitive
opportunities on a global scale. Due to this
intention, the apparel industry under the
upcoming New Industrial Policy is well-poised
to fit into the global value and supply chain to
drive mutually beneficial trade. This is of particular
importance, given the recent trends of hostile
trade scenarios initiated by the US at the World
Trade Organization (WTO) as well as the fallout of