The long-awaited new industrial policy, which has been under development for more than two years and went through a consultation phase with a circulated draft in December of the previous year, has now taken a back seat. The government is presently giving precedence to its flagship production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme as the key catalyst for enhancing manufacturing and encouraging private investments.
Originally expected to be unveiled this year, the industrial policy would have constituted the third framework of its kind in the history of independent India, replacing the historic policy of 1991 introduced during a balance of payment crisis, marking the commencement of economic liberalization.