Finance minister P Chidambaram has urged the Indian industry to think big, scale up operations and complete projects ahead of schedule to compete with China and other countries. Besides, Chidambaram also stressed the need for strengthening the manufacturing sector to provide large- scale employment opportunities for the ever-increasing youth population. Speaking at a function to mark the 70th anniversary of Larsen & Toubro, Chidambaram said the completion of greenfield airports at Hyderabad and Bangalore ahead of schedule, is more of an exception than a rule. The finance minister revealed that the delays for 301 projects have cost Rs 48,961 crore to the Government. “India was more than a match for China in entrepreneurship, managerial skills and business environment,” he said and called upon the captains of the industry to accept the challenge of taking on China in the manufacturing field. “India scores over China in entrepreneurship, management skills. However, China edges over India over size and scale of operations, the cost of raw material and other inputs and its implementation speed. India has a potential to become a manufacturing hub,” Chidambaram noted. He observed that India is set to become the only large country where working population will be higher than the dependent population. Since only 5 per cent of the youth would be vocationally skilled, the services sector, which accounts for 55 per cent of the country’s GDP would not able to absorb them in large numbers. To ensure employment opportunities for the youth, he said, the manufacturing sector, which now accounts for 28 per cent of GDP, would have to grow and expand its activities on a big scale.
