Manufacturing Industry must become Rapid Learning Enterprise: Arun Maira

The world has gone digital and technology adoption is driving performance improvement and increase in market reach. India, too, is harnessing the power of the digital to drive productivity, profitability as well as competitiveness of its industries. This topic was further explored, with a focus on the manufacturing and infrastructure sectors in particular

This two-day flagship summit, themed ‘Technology: A catalyst in driving growth in Indian industry’, deliberated upon the challenges that manufacturing and infrastructure organisations face in using IT; the prevailing IT adoption levels; as well as the expectations from IT in the future of Manufacturing and Infrastructure sectors.

This annual flagship summit saw eminent leaders such as Mr. Arun Maira, Member, Planning Commission, Government of India, Mr. Bhaskar Pramanik, Chairman, CII National Committee on IT, ITeS and eCommerce and Chairman, Microsoft Corporation India, Mr. Deep Kapuria, Chairman, CII National MSME Council and Chairman, Hi-Tech Group, Mr. S D Shibulal, MD and CEO, Infosys, and Mr. Neil Wilson, Executive Director & Partner, PwC address the audience.

Delivering his address, Mr. Bhaskar Pramanik, Chairman, CII National Committee on IT, ITeS and eCommerce and Chairman, Microsoft Corporation India, said “Having grown manifold in size and matured in terms of service delivery capability and footprint over the past decade, the Indian IT industry is now at an inflexion point—and faces a unique opportunity to enhance its role as a service, value–adding partner to the domestic industry as well. There is a significant headroom in the addressable IT adoption opportunity for India Inc., and there are sizeable untapped opportunities across a wide spectrum of verticals like manufacturing and we hope this event will lead the way for it and help develop an IT strategy blueprint for various sector.”

Mr. Arun Maira, Member, Planning Commission, Government of India, who delivered the Keynote Address said, “The manufacturing sector of our country has a long way to go. The sector needs to create more jobs and help increase the country’s exports. Small industries will play a key role in this. We have to help these small industries grow and recognize that they are the backbone of our economy. We have to help small industries help access technologies and build effective clusters by working cooperatively. The Indian IT industry needs to help enable these SMEs. Now the State, the industries and IT sectors need to work together.” He added that, SMEs are the backbone of this country and the time has come to put capability in people to change the process so as to create healthy eco-system of small entrepreneurs. He stressed, ‘Manufacturing SMEs must become rapid learning enterprise and should become competitive through better process architecture’. Mr. Arun Mairaalso added “Human Assets are the only assets that appreciates in manufacturing industry, rest all depreciates’.

The sentiment that rang through the session was clearly indicative of the fact that while these sectors did have low IT adoption levels and were ridden with issues, the bigger picture did reveal opportunities for growth and development through process and governance restructuring and the critical role IT had to play in bringing about this transformation.

Mr. Deep Kapuria, Chairman, CII National MSME Council and Chairman, Hi-Tech Group, during his address said “IT is a catalyst to navigate through challenging and volatile environment”. He added, earlier in India growth was taken for granted, but now companies struggle for it. He stressed India should catalyze growth through technology and leverage entrepreneur-sprit for better growth.

During the inaugural session Mr. S D Shibulal, MD and CEO, Infosys, said, “IT is a great enabler for employment generation. Every sector needs to adopt technology as it can help build competitive advantage, close the development gaps in the country and thereby create more employment opportunities.” He added it is encouraging to see the great work of spreading awareness on the challenges Indian industries are facing today, and to be able to come together on a platform such as this, to discuss how to resolve those with the help of IT.

The joint CII-PwC report, Driving growth in Indian industry: Unlocking the transformational value with technology, was launched in line with the theme of the event. Drawing from what leading industry players are doing to address prevalent issues in order to streamline processes and drive growth in their organisations, this report gives a perspective of the real picture.

As explained by Mr. Neil Wilson, Chief Operating Officer, PwC India, during his special address, “CEOs and CIOs have recognised data mining and analysis, mobile application for customer as strategic next-gen technologies for their sectors. This not only shows that India is well into the digital game but industries are realising that potential emerging technologies have to transform their business.”

In conclusion, Mr. C N Raghupathi, Chairman, CII Sub-Committee on ‘IT for Domestic Industry’ and Head – India Business and VP, Infosys Ltd said, “This discussion on unlocking the transformational value of technology to revive India’s industries comes at a time when India’s GDP is more service oriented and less manufacturing oriented. There is a need to jumpstart the manufacturing sector and enable infrastructure as well since both are inter-dependent.”

(L-R) Mr CN Raghupathi, Chairman, CII Sub-Committee on ‘IT for Domestic Industry’ and Head – India Business & VP, Infosys Ltd; Mr Neil Wilson, Executive Director & Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers India; Mr Arun Maira, Member – Planning Commission, Government of India; Mr Bhaskar Pramanik, Chairman, CII National Committee on IT, ITeS & eCommerce and Chairman, Microsoft Corporation (I) Pvt Ltd; and Mr Sujith Haridas, Deputy Director General, CII, releasing the CII-PwC report on “Driving Growth in Indian Industry – Unlocking the Transformational Value with Technology”

CII Proposes 100-Day Agenda for New Government

Unveiling the CII action theme for the year as ‘Accelerating Growth, Creating Employment’, Mr Shriram noted, “With slowing growth and high inflation adversely impacting employment, CII will urge the nextGovernment to focus on reviving growth and generating new jobs.”

In his press conference, Mr Shriram added that CII has proposed a strong 100-day action agenda for the new governmentto boost growth. “A strong economic revival package and right implementation of policies by a fresh Government can help create as many as 150 million jobs in the next ten years,” he stressed. “Industry is looking for top policy steps such as introduction of GST, easing of interest rates by 100 bps, keeping subsidies at 1.7 per cent of GDP, and restructuring of labour laws to promote mass manufacturing.”

CII further stated thatwithcontinuing robust reforms, GDP growth could be taken back to the 8 per cent level in the next three years. “Amarket-friendly environment is required that would proactively promote investments, business and entrepreneurship,” said Mr Shriram. Mass manufacturing sectors and labour-intensive services sectors need to be encouraged, he continued.

Key priorities for CII in the coming year will be in the following ten areas: education, skills, economic growth, manufacturing sector growth, investments, ease of doing business, export competitiveness, legal and regulatory architecture, labour law reforms and entrepreneurship.

CII has strongly called for implementation of the following policies, among others, in the first 100 days by the next Government:

–          Introduction of GST

–          Containment of subsidies and fiscal consolidation

–          Monetary easing – reduction in the repo rate by 100 bps

–          Maintenance of a competitive exchange rate

–          Fast-tracking stalled projects and increasing public capital investments

–          Timely implementation of DMIC and NIMZs

–          Setting up of state level mechanisms similar to Project Monitoring Group which will review and monitor projects at state level

–          A strong inter- Ministerial co-ordination group to resolve sticky issues like mining, raw material securitisation for sectors like Steel, etc

–          An institutional mechanism to renegotiate the terms of concession in Public Private Partnership Contracts to salvage stranded investments

–          Expansion of e-governance & technology based initiatives to simplify processes and online monitoring of application forms

–          Time-bound approvals by introducing ‘deemed approvals’ in case of delays beyond prescribed limit

–          Restructuring labour laws including introduction of Fixed Term Employment for industry to hire manpower on short term assignments

CII would continue to provide inputs in the areas of direct and indirect taxes to help India emerge as an attractive destination for business.

In agriculture, CII’s Food and Agricultural Center of Excellence (FACE)is studying the impact of Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee Act (APMC) which needs to be revamped to delist perishables. CII will also undertake a study on gas pricing and its impact on end-users, macro-economic indicators and the investment environment.

In manufacturing, it will work with concerned Ministries and State Governments on delayed projects and also on specific policies, particularly for labour-intensive sectors. CII has called for quick implementation of the National Manufacturing Policy and would bring out a report on Mass Manufacturing policy.For MSMEs, CII plans to launch a Finance Facilitation Centre and initiatives to link Indian SMEs with global value chains.

In services, CII will constitute National Services Competitiveness Council and develop a sectoral strategy for doubling of services export by 2025. It has targeted several sectors such as Tourism and Hospitality, Financial Services, Telecommunications and Professional Services for export promotion.

For better quality higher education, one of the CII interventions will be to launch the 100-100 program where 100 CII member companies will create 100 Faculty Sabbaticals who will spend two/ three months in industry to explore multi-level partnerships like research, curriculum, and skills development. In skills, CII will help implement the National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) and continue to work on Sector Skills Councils.

In labour laws, CII will create platforms for sharing best practices from industry which have helped in fostering better industrial relations within the current framework. In addition, it will work with its membership, Trade Unions, Central and State Governments for creating consensus on various issues.

To improve the ease of doing business in India, CII will present to the government best practices in the states which can be emulated in the areas of land acquisition, contract enforcement and taxation. CII has been strongly underscoring the need for a reduction in transactions cost of exports to overcome difficult business conditions abroad. In this context, CII has constituted a task force on transactions costs which proposes a framework for building an efficient trade facilitation mechanism in India.

In order to support entrepreneurship, CII will significantly expand its PPP initiative “India Innovation Initiative” to select the most innovative entrepreneurs through a pan-India competition. 

CII submits a detailed list of 62 stalled projects: 17 Projects Cleared by Project Management Group

CII appreciates the Government’s commitment to rapid implementation of large infrastructure projects.

CII has learnt that 17 large infrastructure projects have been cleared in the last two weeks by the Project Management Group (PMG) recently set up in the Cabinet Secretariat to fast-track infrastructure projects. PMG has initiated an innovative and effective monitoring mechanism deploying e-governance to track and review the progress of the large infrastructure projects. In consultation with concerned companies, CII had prepared a detailed list of 62 infrastructure projects of over Rs 1,000 crores each and submitted it to the PMG. 

5 Point Agenda for Economic Development of Assam

CII will be  partnering with the State Government for overall economic development of the State and to facilitate initiatives that will catalyze grassroots  level developments.

The 5 point agenda will include Skill Development, Growth of the IT industry in the State, Enhancing MSME competitiveness in the State through capacity building, Boosting Food Processing including enabling the Tea industry to move up the value chain and facilitating healthcare delivery.