By IANS,
New Delhi : A government-industry task force headed by Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma will meet here next week to discuss fall in industrial output and suggest measures to reverse it.
Sharma, who also holds the textiles portfolio, Thursday met Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and discussed the macro-economic situation, especially the drop in industrial output.
According to data released by the Central Statistics Office, India’s industrial output dropped by 1.8 percent in June due to a 3.2 percent contraction in manufacturing production.
The factory output has contracted for the third time in the past four months. During the April-June quarter, factory output measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) has contracted by 0.1 percent.
The minister is also scheduled to meet representatives of the industry lobbies like the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) along with Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO).
The government has formed the task force with a view to enhance communication between industry and the government, and obtain inputs from corporate leaders for policy-making.
“The minister is regularly reviewing the situation with the senior officials and has expressed concern over the drop in industrial performance in recent months,” said a commerce and industry ministry statement.