Agency Name: | Ministry of Industry |
Type: | Ministry |
Nativename A: | Thai: กระทรวงอุตสาหกรรม |
Seal: | Seal of the Ministry of Industry of Thailand.svg |
Jurisdiction: | Government of Thailand |
Headquarters: | Ratchathewi, Bangkok |
Coordinates: | 13.7641°N 100.527°W |
Budget: | 5,231.2 million baht (FY2019) |
Minister1 Name: | Pimphattra Wichaikul |
Minister1 Pfo: | Minister of Industry |
Chief1 Name: | Nattapol Rangsitpol |
Chief1 Position: | Permanent Secretary |
The Ministry of Industry (Abrv: M-Industry; Thai: กระทรวงอุตสาหกรรม,) is a cabinet ministry in the Government of Thailand. The ministry is responsible for the promotion and regulation of industries.[1]
The Ministry of Industry (MOI) began in 1933 as a division of the Thai government, the Industrial Division (Thai: กองอุตสาหกรรม), in the Department of Commerce (Thai: กรมพาณิชย์), (now the Ministry of Commerce), which was part of the defunct Ministry of Economics (Thai: กระทรวงเศรษฐกิจ). In 1941, the division was upgraded to the Department of Industry (still in the Economic Ministry). On 5 May 1942, the Ministry of Industry was created in its own right.[2]
The ministry's fiscal year 2019 (FY2019) budget is 5,231.2 million baht, down from 5,653.7 million baht in FY2018.[3]
On 1 March 2019, the driving committee of the institutions under the Ministry of Industry aimed to create public awareness of its network of institutions. An Industry Network logo was created to be used in publicizing the mission of the institution networks as a symbol of their cooperation in driving Thailand’s mission in the digital age.[4]
Organization of the MOI is based on information from the following sources:
The first institutes under the MOI were established in the 1970s under the Department of Industrial Promotion (DIP) and covered a few areas like textiles and metalworking. In the second half of the 1990s, these initial institutes were revamped with several of its divisions and centers being made autonomous, including the National Food Institute, the Thailand Textile Institute, the Electrical and Electronics Institute, and the Thai Productivity Institute, primarily through relocating some research and laboratory testing functions. These were established outside the bureaucratic structure to provide better support services that included training, consultancy, testing and laboratory services, and provision of market information. As autonomous institutes, they were able to provide better compensation to attract private sector managers and professionals and were also able to have more flexible budgetary arrangements. These autonomous institutes were given five years in which to become financially self-supporting.[5]