With the return of Congress (I) government in power the new industrial policy was announced in July 1980. Here the task of raising the pillars of economic infrastructure in the country was entrusted to the public sector for reasons of its greater reliability, requirement of large investments and longer gestation periods of the projects. The policy laid down following socio-economic objectives:
(i) Optimum utilisation of the installed capacity.
(ii) Maximizing production and achieving higher productivity and higher employment generation.
(iii) Correction of regional imbalance through a preferential development of industrially backward areas.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
(iv) Strengthening of the agricultural base by according a preferential treatment to agro-based industries, and promoting optimum inter-sectoral relationship.
(v) Faster promotion of export-oriented and import substitution industries.
(vi) Promoting economic federalism with an equitable spread of investment over small but growing units in the rural as well as urban areas.
(v) Revival of the economy which is inhibited by infrastructural gaps and inadequacies in performance.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
The policy has proposed following measures to improve the economy. This includes effective operational management of the public sector, integrating industrial development in the private sector by promoting the concept of economic federalism, redefining of small units, promotion of industries in rural areas, removal of regional imbalances, regularisation of unauthorised excess capacity installed in the private sector, automatic expansion facility to large-scale sector and revival of sick units of industries.