Mumbai, 29th July 2015: India enterprises have the ability to undertake frugal engineering and must excel, innovate and design to drive its economic growth by 9-10% for the next three decades to create employment driven growth, said Amitabh Kant, secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India.
He was speaking at the 7th VLFM Learning Convention (Visionary Leaders for Manufacturing) programme held under the auspices of Champions of Societal Manufacturing organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
Calling the apex technology and management institutes in the country to document their innovations by patenting them, Kant said that 22% of the patents filed from India are done by Indian companies while 78% were done by Multinational companies operating from India.
Sharing instances of innovation by global conglomerates operating in India, Kant said, “Renault has designed a car for the global market from Chennai and General Motors is now trying to do the same in Talegaon. Dymler in Chennai is making trucks not for Indian markets but for global markets. What the world is realising is that India has ability to do frugal engineering.”
So far India had held back itself by regulatory controls, but we are now overcoming. We have so far grown on the back of services sector that contributed 60% of the GDP.
“Over the last 60 years, we have made India a difficult place to do business. We have simply created an economy of controls,” Kant said.
But, jobs cannot be created in services, as much as they can be through manufacturing. Hence, there are huge perils of non industrialisation for population of the size of India and it will have serious consequences, if manufacturing is not initiated, Kant said.
Speaking at the ceremony, Prof Shoji Shiba, Chief Advisor , Champions for Societal Manufacturing, said that the biggest obstacle for future transformation is mindset change.
Sharing a symbolic example of an auto component company in India, Shiba said, “In past 12 years, Indian manufacturing has changed drastically. In 2015, India is ready to take challenge set by new administration. New era needs new mindset.”
Calling for a work-life balance, Dr Anup Pujari, secretary, Ministry of Micro, Small Medium Enterprises, Government of India said, “India is one of the few countries in the world who publish foreign exchange trade data within 10 days of the ending of the month.”
Delivering his concluding remarks, Venu Srinivasan, Chairman VLFM initiatives & Past President, CII said, “The outcomes of the VLFM program over the last ten years have been impressive. Over 1800 CEOs, SMEs, and senior and middle-level managers have benefited from the program. Over 500 people have gone through the 5 modules of the senior managers course in 9 batches.”
Accelerating the VLFM initiative to drive the success of Make in India campaign, Srinivasan also pointed out the goal of Happy Village, Happy Society and Happy Business.
The Village Buddha program implements holistic village transformation through a systematic approach with 91 visionary leaders from 23 companies being developed with necessary skills and qualities to engage with villages, Srinivasan said.
Under the 1000 VSME component of the VLFM program, CII is now moving to the next level where the supply chain is developed in a holistic manner. The OEM/Tier 1 program commenced in 2009 and more than 410 companies have taken part so far. The Tier 1 and 2 course was initiated the following year, and has enfolded 374 SMEs with as many as 90 taking part in the current year, said Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, Confederation of Indian Industry. (ENDS)