Government to create business-friendly environment: Nirmala Sitharaman

Assuring red carpet to investors, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today said the government is fully committed to creating business- friendly environment to boost the manufacturing sector which will push India to a higher growth trajectory.

Highlighting the steps taken by the government in ensuring growth and creating jobs, she said that to provide flexibility in working hours, it was also amending a number of labour laws.

"We want to chart out new path wherein business entities are extended proverbial red carpet welcome... We are fully committed to delicensing, deregulation and radical changes as we go along. We have an open mind," she said at the launch of the 'Make In India' campaign here.

"We are fully committed to taking India on a higher growth trajectory and we want to make India a global manufacturing destination," Sitharaman added.

The Make In India campaign, aimed at exploiting untapped potential of the country in the manufacturing sector which now contributes only about 15 per cent to the GDP, is not a slogan, but a mission to be accomplished with a single commitment, she said.

"While this percentage is much higher in other Asian countries which are in similar stages of development. We are determined to push it up to 25 per cent," she added.

Government has identified 25 sectors including pharma, automobiles, textiles, aviation, mining, chemicals and others which have potential to make India a leader in these fields.

"In these sectors, substantial work has been done to identify growth drivers, investment opportunities, FDI policy, sectoral policies and specific reason to invest," Sitharaman said.

"We have created a dedicated team to invest in India which will respect to your (businesses) queries, assist you, facilitate you and hand hold investors across the world," she added.