India may become the fifth-largest manufacturing nation - from ninth position at present -

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if the country is able to increase the share of manufacturing in GDP to 25 per cent, a Boston Consultancy Group report has said.

The National Manufacturing Policy envisages that India's manufacturing sector should increase its share of GDP from 15 per cent at present to 25 per cent by 2022, in line with global peers.

It will help India become the fifth-largest manufacturing nation, said the BCG report.

However, despite high potential, the Indian manufacturing sector has not been able to achieve the requisite growth and its share of GDP has remained relatively flat for over two decades because of poor productivity, BCG-CII said in the report titled `People productivity-Key to Indian manufacturing competitiveness'.

An improvement in `people productivity' can be beneficial across all levels of an organisation, it said, adding that it is critical for the Indian manufacturing sector to work toward enhancing people productivity.

It is also important to attract quality talent to the sector, said the report. A survey of placement committees across the top domestic educational institutes suggested that poor job offerings, lack of glamour quotient and lack of awareness concerning potential of manufacturing jobs were some of the reasons behind students' less preference for manufacturing companies, it said.

Apart from brand building, student-connect and awareness activities, in the longer term the manufacturing firms need to work on developing a more conducive working atmosphere, providing better employee experience, and repackaging job offerings to suit students' expectations, it said.

With China's manufacturing competitiveness losing sheen fast, challengers are aggressively vying for a bigger piece of the USD 8.8 trillion1 global manufacturing pie. India, with its large working population and low labour costs (or substantial labour-cost competitiveness) is at a distinct advantage, and can grab a lion's share, the report added.