Becoming a manufacturing hub is a distinct possibility

Today, India has emerged as the brightest spot on the world economic map. Despite global headwinds, the country has proved its economic resilience. Strong leadership, favourable policies, infrastructure push, investments and initiatives like Atmanirbhar Bharat and Make in India are the catalysts that are strengthening its economic foundation.

The positive sentiments are even captured in reports and according to Morgan Stanley, India is accelerating to become the world’s third largest economy by 2027. As every single opportunity brings India an inch closer to its ambition of becoming an economic powerhouse, it is imperative to bridge the existing gaps to ensure that the country stays on its path of growth.

The country aims to become a global manufacturing hub. But two missing pieces of the jigsaw — manufacturing units and innovation – need to be addressed. China still remains the go-to market for Indian companies. India is still dependent on foreign manufacturers for products like telecom instruments, components, consumer electronics, project goods, electric machinery and others.

Bottlenecks such as quality, delays in delivery and low agility have to be eliminated to build a strong foundation of manufacturing in India. Improvements in core areas such as designing, employee skilling, automation, tracking need attention. Policies should also be made simple, stable and flexible that can respond swiftly to volatilities and disruptions. India has an advantage with a large working-age or young population. The workforce, however, needs to be trained. This puts the onus on industry leaders, academia and policymakers to take collective and decisive actions to build a strong and skilled workforce that is competent, resilient and future-ready. Vocational training programs, short-certification courses can equip workers with necessary skills to perform jobs. Technology is transforming the industries at a rapid pace and to withstand this disruption, the workforce has to be prepared for high-technology manufacturing processes.

Many companies manage to achieve success in a quick span of time but lack of innovation prevents them from replicating. Innovation still remains a challenge for Indian startups and according to a survey, even 77 per cent of the venture capitalists hold the view that they lack innovation or unique business models. An IBM Institute for Business Value study found that 91 per cent of startups fail within the first five years due to lack of innovation.

It is encouraging that India has jumped to 40th rank in the global innovation index. There should be more bridges, links or partnerships between academia, industries and policy-makers to facilitate R&D, support talent, cement gaps and come up with new ideas.

India is steering global efforts to mitigate the perils of climate change and energy crisis. At the recently organised COP 27 summit, the country successfully managed to pivot the focus on climate finance and decarbonisation. The manufacturing sector has to ensure that it adopts energy efficient systems, low or zero carbon emitting practices or processes and increased reliance on renewables to make development sustainable and further helping India to fulfil its global commitments for a cleaner future.

India’s manufacturing sector has the potential to become the strongest pillar to support India’s economic dominance globally. From revenue generation to job creation, it can definitely accelerate the country’s journey towards becoming the third largest economy soon. With great possibilities, the entrepreneurs have to navigate wisely while leveraging existing opportunities so that the country’s dream of becoming a global manufacturing hub becomes a reality.

(The author is Co-founder and CMO, Mivi)