Moving a step closer to announcing country's first National Manufacturing Policy, commerce ministry has

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moved a cabinet note on the same.

"I have signed the Cabinet note on the National Manufacturing Policy yesterday and we hope that in few weeks time, the policy will be in place," commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma said while speaking at the 2nd Export Summit 2011 organised by CII.

This comes after the labour and environment issues were resolved through various rounds of inter-ministerial discussions and the draft national manufacturing policy had got an in-principle approval from prime minister Manmohan Singh.

According to Sharma, the policy, which envisages setting up integrated mega National Investment and Manufacturing Zone, had been long overdue as India's manufacturing contribution to GDP has been virtually stagnant at 16 per cent and even this is much lower than 25-30 per cent in other countries.

The Policy aims to take the share of manufacturing from 16 per cent to 25 percent by 2025.

"In the coming few years about 100 million young people will join the workforce in India and creating employment for them is a critical part of the policy," he added.

However, the minister is apprehensive about the growth scenario going forward in the wake of volatility in global commodity prices, uneven recovery in Europe and huge unemployment in developed countries.