According to a notice jointly released by the NDRC and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the projects aim to maintain annual growth of value-added industrial output in the manufacturing industry above 7 percent. Corporate investment in upgrades should also grow an average of 15 percent annually after three years.

The Chinese government also plans to promote digitisation of traditional factories and equipment by making good use of information technology such as the Internet, cloud computing and big data. Manufacturing processes and basic materials will be improved to become cleaner and more energy-efficient.

The government will also support the development of advanced equipment for oceanic engineering, rail transportation, robotics, medical devices, and new energy vehicles, in addition to projects in space flight and aviation, electronic information, quality and branding, and key industrial base construction. To build a more advanced, smarter, greener and service-oriented manufacturing sector, it also plans to encourage enterprises in independent innovation and efficient use of resources.

These projects are in line with China's “Made in China 2025” blueprint, announced in May last year, which aims to improve manufacturing and shift the country away from low-end manufacturing to more value-added production.

China’s value-added industrial output grew 6.1 percent year on year in 2015, lower than the 8.3-percent growth in 2014. Manufacturing output expanded 7 percent in 2015, 2.4 percentage points lower than the previous year.