Govt to wind up defunct National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has given its approval for winding up of the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council (NMCC) with immediate effect stating that the council has fulfilled the mandate for which it was constituted.

The NMCC was established in 2004 as a part of the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) of erstwhile government to provide a continuing forum for policy dialogue to energise and sustain the growth of manufacturing industry. It was set up as an autonomous organisation with a chairman in the rank of a cabinet minister and members from government and industry.

V Krishnamurthy, the former chairman of the council resigned from the post on 28 May 2014 and Ajay Shankar, IAS (Retd) demitted office as member-secretary of the council upon expiry of his tenure on 22 November 2014. In the absence of a chairman and no fresh constitution, the NMCC has become non-functional.

Further, since its inception in 2004, NMCC conducted various studies independently in consultation with several government ministries / departments and also industry association, and shared these studies / reports with the ministries / departments concerned during the decade of its functioning.