Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday, 10 July chaired a high-level review meeting with officials of the National Productivity Council (NPC) in New Delhi, focusing on inter-departmental collaboration, institutional capacity-building, and the adoption of best practices to sharpen productivity and service delivery across the economy.

Vision for a $30 Trillion Economy

The meeting centred on the NPC's forward-looking agenda to reinforce India's productivity ecosystem in alignment with the national goal of becoming a $30 trillion economy. Amardeep Singh Bhatia, Chairman of the NPC and Secretary of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), outlined a strategic roadmap emphasising deeper integration into global value chains through the Atmanirbhar Bharat and Make in India frameworks, alongside a deliberate pivot toward a 'Make for the World' orientation.

Bhatia stressed that productivity gains must ultimately translate into competitive pricing, cost efficiency, and a more enabling business environment. He pointed to DPIIT's ongoing reform initiatives — including compliance reduction, tax rationalisation, startup promotion, regulatory simplification, and calibrated tariff reforms — as essential levers for sustaining global competitiveness, alongside technological advancement and systematic process re-engineering.

MSME Clusters as Growth Engines

A significant portion of the review focused on MSME clusters, which the NPC views as critical growth engines for employment creation and economic expansion. These clusters are being developed as hubs of collective efficiency, offering shared infrastructure, testing facilities, design centres, and platforms for knowledge exchange.

The NPC's MSME outreach agenda includes deepening shop-floor productivity culture, expanding its nationwide network, fostering academic collaboration, developing specialised service models, and strengthening ties with the Asian Productivity Organisation (APO). The overarching aim is to position India's MSME sector as a primary driver of economic transformation through a nationwide productivity movement integrating efficiency, sustainability, and competitiveness.

Industry 4.0 and New Frameworks

On the digital front, the NPC has developed an Industry 4.0 Readiness Assessment Framework to guide enterprises through digital transformation. Additional proposals tabled at the meeting include an Indian Productivity Rating System, a 5S Assessment Framework for export readiness, the revival of sector-specific productivity benchmarks, and the establishment of a Learning and Development Centre to embed productivity-linked tools into entrepreneurial training programmes.

Youth Engagement and International Collaboration

The NPC is also ramping up youth engagement through nationwide competitions and a proposed 'Pro-Talks' platform. On the international front, the India Centre for BRICS Industrial Competencies has been established within the NPC to strengthen cross-border collaboration on productivity enhancement — a notable step as India deepens its engagement with BRICS partner economies.

The review signals a broader institutional push to make productivity a measurable, policy-driven outcome rather than an aspirational target, with the NPC positioned as the nodal agency coordinating this effort across sectors.