Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet with chief secretaries of states in Delhi on December 13-15 to prepare a common social and development agenda for higher economic growth, less than two months before the Budget for 2025-26.
The conference of chief secretaries will be held in Delhi. Hundreds of attendees will represent the central government, all states/Union Territories, and domain experts.
The broad themes for discussion in the presence of Modi include promoting entrepreneurship, skilling and employment ecosystem; manufacturing, MSMEs, informal employment, green economy, rural non-farm sector, circular economy, AI and renewable energy, among other issues about the social and economic development of the country, sources said.
“During the deliberations, states will flag their key issues and their expectations from the Centre. Considering the broader ask of the states, the Centre will take policy action quickly,” a senior official said.
The Centre, which is mulling ways to revitalise the manufacturing sector, with a new set of incentives, would be taking note of the suggestions of the states in this regard.
“The concept being to bring all the states together with a common platform for the exchange of ideas, the best practices from one state would also be shared with other states facing similar challenges for adoption,” the official added.
While investments in a clutch of sectors are already being promoted via production-linked incentives, what is being looked at now is a broader scheme, where government assistance would be linked to employment generation and fresh investments, sources said.
Over the last two decades and more, India has been taking several policy steps intending to increase the share of manufacturing in its gross domestic product (GDP) to 25%. However, the share of the sector in GDP hasn’t risen and has been hovering around 16% since FY12.
Working as Team India, the conference will lay the ground for collaborative action for higher growth with sustainability and the creation of jobs, another official said.
With states’ input, the outcome of the chief secretaries’ conference will be acted on collectively by the Centre and states. Many of the issues would also be taken up in the Governing Council Meeting of NITI Aayog, where Chief Ministers and Administrators of all States and Union Territories would be present, so that an action plan can be finalized with the broad consensus at the highest levels.