Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu made a case for developing automobile clusters at east and west coasts of India to promote growth and exports from the sector. Prabhu said he would discuss the plan with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu regarding an auto cluster in the state. During the forthcoming partnership summit of CII at Visakhapatnam, “I will talk to the chief minister and we will make sure that we create a global scale infrastructure auto cluster in Andhra Pradesh”, he said. He was speaking at the inauguration of auto components expo here. The minister envisaged to have at east coast a port-based infrastructure for auto industry which will have all components for the sector.
Prabhu asked the industry to prepare a blueprint in this regard so as to take the discussion forward. “Same thing, we can do at west coast in Maharashtra. This will also help boost exports,” he added. Further, he said the economy would touch $5 trillion in the coming years and out of this $1 trillion would come from exports of goods and services. To meet this target, the ministry is preparing a detailed strategy, he said.
The minister urged global automobile firms to look at India as part of their global operations and identify products which can be manufactured here. At the function, Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Sector Enterprises Anant Gangaram Geete assured the industry of full support from the government. He also urged the industry to focus on manufacturing environment and consumer friendly products.
