Employment generation, coupled with improving employability, is the priority of the Government. Accordingly, the Government of India has taken various steps for generating employment in the country.
The Government has put emphasis on railways, roads, urban transport, power, telecom, textiles and affordable housing amid continued focus on the National Infrastructure Pipeline. Budget 2021-22 launched Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes, with an outlay of Rs. 1.97 lakh crore, for a period of 5 years starting from 2021-22. All these initiatives are expected to collectively generate employment and boost output in the medium to long term through multiplier-effects.
Rameswar Teli, Minister of State, Ministry of Labour& Employment informed Lok Sabha on March 14, 2022, that the PM GatiShakti is a transformative approach for economic growth and sustainable development. The approach is driven by seven engines, namely, Roads, Railways, Airports, Ports, Mass Transport, Waterways, and Logistics Infrastructure. Ministry of MSME, Government of India, is implementing Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) to facilitate employment opportunities for unemployed youth across the country by assisting in setting up micro-enterprises in all sectors. The PMEGP has five years (2021-22 to 2025-26) outlay of Rs.13554.42 Crore. The Scheme will create sustainable estimated employment opportunities for about 40 lakh persons in five financial years. All the States/UTs will be covered under the Scheme. Union Minister for MSME Narayan Rane has urged major business partner countries of India to work together to set up a system that enables the MSMEs to explore new opportunities and scale the already existing businesses.
Earlier, the government had launched, the ‘Make in India’ initiative on 25th September, 2014 to facilitate investment, foster innovation, build best in class infrastructure, and make India a hub for manufacturing, design, and innovation. It is one of the unique ‘Vocal for Local’ initiatives that promoted India’s manufacturing domain to the world.
As per the Economic Survey Reports, estimated employment in Manufacturing Sector in India was 5.7 crore in 2017-18, 6.12 crore in 2018-19 which was further increased to 6.24 crore in 2019-20.
Labour Bureau under the Ministry of Labour& Employment conducts Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) as part of All India Quarterly Establishment based Employment Survey for establishments having 10 or more workers. As per the results of the first round for the period April to June 2021, employment increased to 3.08 crore (approximately) in the nine selected sectors of the economy against a total of 2.37 crores, as reported in the sixth Economic Census (2013-14) reflecting an overall growth of 29% and 22% for the Manufacturing Sector. The above data indicates an increasing trend of employment in manufacturing sector.
National Manufacturing Policy notified by Ministry of Commerce and Industry in 2011 identifies employment intensive industries like textiles and garments, leather and footwear, gems and jewellery and food processing etc. as special focus attention sectors.