The world economic outlook is grim and India is no exception. In order to avoid large job losses and stimulate economic growth, the government had cleared the national manufacturing policy in October 2011. At the core of the policy is the creation of National Investment and Manufacturing Zones (NIMZ). NIMZs are proposed to be developed as green-field industrial townships and benchmarked against the best manufacturing hubs in the world. But 17 months after the policy was cleared, NIMZ are yet to see the light of the day. Contentious issues on labour and environment don't seem to have been resolved yet. But now it seems that the government is keen to clear the roadblocks. The environment ministry has come on board and is ready to rationalize the clearances. This is a significant step. The government should resolve the contentious issues very soon. This is because the NIMZ has potential to create 100 m jobs by 2020. It will also increase the share of manufacturing in GDP to 25% from the current 16%.