Nation marching towards self-reliance, says industrialist

Chennai, Feb 18 (PTI): Industrialist and vice-chairman ofIndia Cements Ltd N Srinivasan has said the country being thesecond largest producer of cement has the scope of becoming amanufacturing hub not only for cement but also for otherproducts.

Participating in a function here, he said, ''India ismarching towards becoming self-reliant and a strongmanufacturing base.'' Srinivasan, present at the inauguration of a new officeset up here for the South by the Asian-Arab Chamber ofCommerce, said the country has emerged as a big market formanufactured products and services besides being asignificant exporter of information technology.

''In the last 10-15 years, India has seen a bigtransformation especially under the leadership of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi,'' he said.

Terming the budget presented by Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on February 1 as path-breaking, he said the budgetseeks to address the needs of the nation and envisagesspending a lot of money on development in every sphere,including infrastructure and housing.

Srinivasan invited investors in Asian and Arab countriesand other parts of the world to invest in infrastructure andother sectors in India.

''India is the second largest producer of cement after Chinaand everything is made in India and the building materialwill be in demand for hundreds of years. Like cement, Indiahas the scope for becoming a manufacturing hub for a numberof products,'' he said.