Manufacturers Should Develop Their Own Innovative Technologies: Anil Agrawal

In order to sustain, manufactures should develop their own technology and should be innovative. They should not rely on the government or any other source for the technology, Anil Agrawal, Additional Secretary, DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce and Industry said on Friday.

Addressing a programme on ‘Expectations from the New Industrial Policy of India’, organised by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI), Agrawal said that the nation could survive the COVID-19 pandemic because of the partnership between the industry and the society, which also includes the partnership between the scientist and the medicinal professionals.

“From zero, we are now the third largest start-up ecosystem. In order to sustain, manufacturers should develop their own technology and should be innovative. They should not rely on the government or any other source for the technology,” he added.

He said that the industrial landscape’s regulation has shifted dramatically in recent years and explained that in 1951, we said that no industry could grow and that every industry needed a licence to come and produce. With liberalization, certain policies changed in 1991, but the industrial act remained as it is, and that is one of the major areas that we are looking at. He informed that in the last six-seven years, the government is increasingly trying to facilitate investments.

“Nobody heard of the term investment promotions before, today we have developed an entire organisation for investment promotion. Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been continuously saying that you cannot distribute poverty, you need to distribute wealth, so we respect wealth creators. There is a change in the mindset that we must see and appreciate,” he said.

Meanwhile, Rupa Dutta, Principal Adviser, DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce and Industry said that there were a few pandemic mega trends that were already driving the ship-emerging technologies, sunrise sectors, climate change, and the inclusion of environmental sustainability and reconfiguration of globalisation where COVID-19 acted as an accelerator.  She added that a new window of opportunity has opened up with new destinations emerging as manufacturing locations of choice and that India is making efforts to capitalise on this opportunity.

The Principal Adviser, DPIIT, stated that the government is looking at an enabling framework that can bring all sectors together to address challenges and figure out how to move forward, with manufacturing playing a key role. They are focussing on a few areas, which include circular sustainable economy, the need to improve the competitiveness of domestic industry, moving up the global value chain, skill development, and promotion of emerging technologies.

Dr. Sabyasachi Kar, RBI Chair, Professor Institute of Economic Growth stated that we are hopefully coming out of the pandemic and we want to make sure that this is an opportunity for us to build a better and stronger economy.

He said that there was a need to look at two sets of things - what our legacy economy or traditional issues were in terms of growth of industry and the new opportunities. “It is becoming increasingly clear that global supply chains have been efficient, but not resilient. You will get the cheapest input if you rely on a single global supply chain that is based on a single country, but if that country fails, you will have nothing. As a result, there is a growing recognition that resilience is important in a world filled with shocks, and this presents an opportunity for countries like India to provide an alternative to global supply chains,” he added.

Dr. Nagesh Kumar, Director, Institute for Studies in Industrial Development said that the potential of the country in the manufacturing sector is limitless, but the 16 per cent GDP attributed to it is not really doing justice to our industries. However, the success of start-ups in the past few years, despite the pandemic, gives hope and encourages us to train our vision high.

“India should strengthen its export-oriented industrialization, deepen its electronic and digital ecosystem and exploit the green industrialization opportunities. It should also take useful lessons from East Asian countries in using strategic interventions and other facilitations for promoting industrialisation,” he said.

Sandeep Aggarwal, Chair, Industry Affairs Committee, PHDCCI , while giving the welcome remarks, stated that the programme is timely because this is what the government has been finalising and working on. He said that MSME is facing issues related to Bank Guarantee and working capital. He said that price hikes in copper, steel, aluminium is an area of concern and should be taken care of by the government. He said that import duty should be reduced so that misrepresentation can be avoided.

Dushyant Thakor, Senior Vice President, Invest India also graced the programme with his presence and shared his expert viewpoints. Vishwa Nath, Co-Chair, Industry Affairs Committee, PHDCCI, provided the concluding remarks and vote of thanks. Dr SP Sharma, Chief Economist, DSG, PHDCCI, gave the opening remarks and moderated the Programme.