SCALE Committee Included 3 New Members Following The Instructions Given By Central Government; Govenrment Finally Focusing On Unorganized Sectors For Economic Betterments

SCALE Committee Included 3 New Members Following The Instructions Given By Central Government; Govenrment Finally Focusing On Unorganized Sectors For Economic Betterments

On 11th February 2021, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal on declared the existence of the SCALE committee (Steering Committee for Advancing Local Value-Add and Exports) a joint government-industry panel , that has been built as a solution to increase localization and also as a component responsible for manufacturing and generating employment in the country’s toy industry. The most important task of the panel is to keep an eye and stay updated with the fast-tracking growth of the Indian manufacturing sector.

It is a public-private partnership committee, as Goyal announced during the inauguration of a website for India Toy Fair 2021.

The first India Toy Fair-2021 was organized on a digital platform on and from 27th February to 2nd March 2021 which offered plenty of opportunities to explore and purchase products from over a thousands of exhibitors and manufacturers across the country.

The committee has been working since then on the 24 champion sectors including toys and furniture and sector-specific subgroups have been formed to come out with actionable points aimed to promote growth of these sectors.

The import duty on toys rose to 60% from 20% last year and a Quality Control Order requires all toys and materials for children below 14 years to be certified by the BIS, India’s national standards body.

The measures were crucial as India’s $1.75 billion toy market more than 85% comprises imports, which amounted to around $1.5 billion in FY20. China and Taiwan account for around 90% of India’s toy imports.

The domestic toy industry comprises around 4,000 MSMEs and is primarily unorganized.

The government will explore roping in the industry to set up toy libraries at railway stations to boost locally made indigenous toys.

Recently, according to a trustable source from an industry insider, the government has taken steps and expanded the SCALE committee (Steering Committee for Advancing Local Value-Add and Exports) by including three new members, hailing from diverse industry backgrounds. The new members who are appointed are Panasonic India Chairman and CEO Manish Sharma, Toyota Kirloskar.

 NSE 0.11 % Vice-Chairman Vikram S Kirloskar, and Asian Paints NSE -1.10 % co-promoter and Chairman of the Addverb Technologies Jalaj Dani, reported by the source.

In the present scenario, the 14-member Steering Committee for Advancing Local Value-Add and Exports (SCALE) committee is led by Pawan Goenka, the former Mahindra CEO.

Simultaneously, Deepak Bagla, the Invest India CEO, the PI Industries CMD Salil Singhal and the JSW Steel Group CFO Sehshagiri Rao are placed on the board of this SCALE Committee.

The SCALE committee has representations from different industry bodies like the FICCI, the CII, the ASSOCHAM and other officials from the commerce and other associated ministries.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry created the SCALE Committee.

Since then has been working in close ties with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under the vigilance and counsel of the associated ministry.

It has provided a facility for the progress and development of more than two dozen working groups to address and look at specific issues to fats-track the local manufacturing and production. Each working group involves a minimum of six to seven companies’ representatives from one manufacturing sector as well as liaisons with their respective ministries on effectively acknowledging the challenges and difficulties that come across.

The SCALE committee has given momentum to the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, which is providing the environment for domestic manufacturing and production capability in the country.

The government has provided remuneration of Rs 1.97 lakh crore to 13 key sectors in the Union Budget 2021-22, which will make its way through a game-changing move in the direction of Atmanirbhar Bharat. 

With the righteous implementation and execution of the PLI scheme, the most negligible additional production in India estimated over the next five years is expected to be at around Rs 37.5 lakh crore in sectors like white goods (ACs and LEDs), auto components, pharmaceuticals, drugs, speciality steel, and telecom & networking products, among others.

The steps taken back in the time were essential as of India’s $1.75 billion toy market, more than 85% consists of the imports market, which amounted to a net worth around $1.5 billion in the estimation of FY20. China and Taiwan still account for around 90% of India’s toy imports market.

The local Indian toy manufacturing industry comprises around 4,000 MSMEs and is a root level unorganized sector in the industrial map.

Back in the time, Goyal also said the government would explore roping in the industry to set up toy libraries at railway stations to boost locally made indigenous toys.

Keeping the current pandemic situations and the domestic financial conditions and considering the economic goals as promised by the central government in mind, the government and the commerce and industry ministry have decided to take necessary actions to bring the more petite, typically unorganized industries to the forefront. The nation awaits more such developmental initiatives.