The Centre today urged state governments to create land banks for setting up manufacturing zones for boosting industry and promoting job creation. Addressing a meeting of State Chief Secretaries and Industry Secretaries in New Delhi, Commerce and Industry Minister Mr Anand Sharma said states will have to play a major role in acquiring land for setting up of world-class industrial townships. He said, under the National Manufacturing Policy, the

government has proposed to set up National Investment andManufacturing Zones, NIMZs. NIMZs are conceptualised as integrated industrial townships of at least 50 sq km (5,000 hectares) with state-of- the-art infrastructure. At least 30 per cent of the total land area would be devoted to manufacturing units.

The minister emphasised that without increasing the share of manufacturing sector in the economy, it would be difficult to create jobs and attract investments in the country. Mr Sharma said the policy aims to increasing the share of the sector to at least 25 per cent by 2020 from the present 16 per cent. It also aimed at creating 100 million jobs by 2020.