Ramp up design capabilities, IPR regime to boost share of manufacturing in GDP to 25 per cent: CII

India should give increased thrust to design development and intellectual property rights in order to increase the share of manufacturing in the country's gross domestic product (GDP) to 25 per cent from the current 16 per cent, according to a CII report.
 
The government has set an ambitious target of increasing the share of manufacturing in the country to 25 per cent of GDP, against the current 16 per cent, in order to generate employment and achieve balanced economic growth.

This, however, would only be possible if there are more 'Indian products' with Indian designs and Intellectual property rights (IPRs). 

"Key is the design development and IPRs. They can bring down cost. They would be user-friendly, adaptable, easy to monitor and environmentally safe. If the products could win in the Indian market they could win elsewhere in the world,'' CII quoted Ashok Jhunjhunwala, professor, IIT Madras, as saying.

Products with value addition above the threshold would bring to the market 'India manufactured products' instead of imported ones, but their contribution to the economy would be limited, he said.

Considerable progress has been made in the automobile and pharmaceuticals sectors. But, in the fast growing telecom sector, the true Indian presence was very little. Most of the products and services were imported or assembled.

Though there were leading operators and over 800 million mobile connectivity, there were hardly any Indian design or IPR. The royalty payment for every new line ranged from $12 to $15.