21st International Engineering and Technology Fair (IETF) kicks off in New Delhi

Engineering sector is a prime mover of the economy: Rajeev Kher

 Taking manufacturing to the next level will require a huge technological leapfrog – Amitabh Kant

According to Mr Rajeev Kher, Commerce Secretary, Ministry of Commerce and Industry said that “Engineering sector is a prime mover of the economy.  Its uniqueness to India’s growth story can be seen in terms of the large canvass it provides for value addition and the vast opportunities it opens for entrepreneurs, technology development and employment generation”. Mr. Kher was speaking during the inaugural session of the 21st International Engineering and Technology Fair (IETF) organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry in New Delhi today.

 

Highlighting the recent actions taken by the government on the policy front, Mr Kher stated that the measures taken by the government towards liberalizing the FDI limits in the Defence and Railways will give a big boost to the domestic engineering and manufacturing sector.

Mr Kher also highlighted the need for enhanced investments in the research and development both by the government as well as corporates to help Indian Industry go further up the manufacturing value chain. 

 

Speaking at the session, Mr. Amitabh Kant, Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promoition stated that the key challenge for India is to rapidly attain a  9% growth growth trajectory for the next several years. According to him, this growth rate was necessary to increase the share of manufacturing from current 16 % to 25 % over the next decade.

Mr. Kant observed that taking manufacturing to the next level will require a huge technological leapfrog. Indian States provide huge opportunities for manufacturing and different states are executing in different areas of manufacturing with some states   like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu showcasing cutting edge technology.

 

Mr. Kant felt that it was time for India to work with the best manufacturers in the world and imbibe the latest technological developments and IETF is an appropriate platform to explore such partnerships. He was of the view that in the present scenario India demographic profile that comprises of the young and aspiration population with the use of this new technology will drive the new manufacturing.

Talking about the government’s efforts in providing a boost to the manufacturing sector, Mr Kant said that the Make in India campaign is not about the protectionism but endeavors to make Indian manufacturing a part of the global supply chain. The government is determined to drive the India’s infrastructure and improve ease of doing business to make India an attractive Investment destination.

 

Speaking at the session Mr Takeshi Yagi, Ambassador of Japan to India said “There exists centuries old friendly relationship between Japan and India and the intensity has further increased in the recent years. He further stated that “On economic front, the India –Japan relationship is largely guided by Abeonomics and Modinomics “

According to the Ambassador, India remains among one of the most attractive destinations for investment for Japanese companies who have a strong presence in India and are further contemplating to expand their presence in the country. Lauding the recent efforts of the new government for improving the investment attractiveness of the country   Mr Yagi said that the Japanese investors further look for the  implementation of key reforms such as GST, resolving FDI in insurance and improving  ease of doing Business.

 Addressing the Inaugural Session of the IETF, Mr. Haruhiko Ando, Deputy Director General for Trade Policy, Trade Policy Bureau, Ministry of Economy pointed out that trade fairs were one of the best ways to expand a country’s economy. He observed that the number of Indian and Japanese companies participating in each other’s trade fairs was increasing thereby indicating a healthy growth in the economic relationship.

According to Mr. Ajay Shriram, President, CII, the recent development initiatives launched by the government in the past few months are all expected to lead to an increase in the demand for engineering goods. These initiatives include the Make in India campaign, Swachh Bharat, water conservation etc.

 Mr. Rajive Kaul, Past President, CII and Chairman, CII Trade Fairs Council stated that the IETF had grown to become the “Mother of All Trade Fairs” for Indian Industry and it provided an ideal platform for technology exchanges.

 Earlier welcoming the participants, Mr. Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII stated that the IETF was started over forty years ago and has now evolved into a strong B2B platform with over 300 exhibitors representing over 15 countries.

In his concluding remarks, Mr. Deep Kapuria, Co-Chairman, CII Trade Fairs Council stated that the engineering industry is expected to drive growth in India in the coming years and the government’s policies were aimed at making this sector stronger.

 

CII Welcomes Cabinet Approval of 100 % FDI for Medical Devices Under Automatic Route

Mr. Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII welcomed the Cabinet approval of 100 % FDI for Medical Devices under the “automatic route”. He mentioned that this would  meet a very long standing need for local manufacturing and technology infusion in the sector which continued  to meet the growing healthcare needs of a vast country like India largely through imports. It clearly distinguishes the Medical Devices sector which is primarily greenfield so far, from the Pharmaceutical sector which was brown field and needed several protections.  He expressed hope that this step will go a long way in making the  “Make in India” programme happen for this sector as the  Govt. was expected to  continue to emit similarly positive signals to make the country an attractive for investors to make, market and export their products.

Welcoming the move, Mr Pavan Choudary, Chairman, Medical Technology Division of the CII and Managing Director, Vygon India Pvt Ltd, said “Since the time medical devices were classified as “Drugs” getting Foreign Direct Investment in this sector became a challenge.  The figures as released by DIPP indicated that in the period April 2000 to June 2012, when Drugs and Pharmaceuticals witnessed FDI inflows of US$ 9659 million, Medical and Surgical appliance had FDI inflows of US$ 523 million only. The main reason for this scant FDI was that medical devices (as Drugs) had to go through the tedious FIPB route which was a time, effort and resource consuming affair. With the FDI now being allowed on an automatic route, the CII Medical Technolgy Divison was looking forwad to a  surge of  interest in this area provided the market space stayed attractive enough for investment from MNCs through consistent policies on export, pricing and the manufacturing front.

Mr Himanshu Baid, Co-Chairman Medical Technology Division of the CII and Managing Director, Polymedicure Ltd said that this  sector,  to develop, needed  strong infusion of international technology and required  long gestation periods and deep pockets. This nascent, green field sector of Medical Devices by being clubbed with the Drugs and Pharmaceutical sector languished and accounted in India for as little as $ 2.5 billion (including Exports). This was only 1% of the World Market (the world Market being $ 250 billion) as compared to the Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals sector which stood at $ 20 billion (including exports) accounting for 7% of the World Pharmaceutical market of $ 300 billion.

Make in India: A New Deal for India’s Manufacturing Sector – CII President

Ajay Shriram, President, CII

The CII President, Mr. Ajay S Shriram, welcomed the launch of Make in India (MII) by the Prime Minister, calling it a new deal for India’s manufacturing sector. He said that the initiative to ease procedures and welcome investment into the sector had been taken at the right time. It is the only way to generate employment for the large pool of young people joining the labour force every year. As mentioned by the Prime Minister, the purchasing power of the people can be enhanced and demand created only if they have employment opportunities.

CII endorses the idea that security of investment and consistency in policies are most important for developing the trust of investors. The assurance given by the Prime Minister that the centre and states will work as a team is important for industry. His emphasis on self-certification will go a long way in reducing difficulties for businesses.

The Prime Minister’s emphasis on skill development and mapping of skills to industries is an important endeavour that must be pursued. CII has taken many initiatives in this area and trained many workers with specific skills across sectors by adopting ITIs and developing skill gurukuls.

Another new idea in the PM’s speech was that India is ideally placed to Look East and Link West. This will help products manufactured in India to enter the global value chain. It is interesting that the PM has equated FDI to the notion of First Develop India. Digital India should lead to much better governance that will help India improve its rank in the Ease of Doing Business.

The CII President also welcomed the emphasis on ease of doing business by Commerce and Industry Minister Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman.

The repeated mention of “Ease of Doing Business” is very heartening, since CII has taken this up as its priority in our advocacy with the Government and we are grateful that the Government has been receptive to the various suggestions, said Mr Shriram.

Effective implementation of projects in accordance with the environmental compliances is the key for sustainable economic growth: C Rangarajan

Creation of common policies and taxation system essential for sustainable and inclusive regional growth – CII

“Speedy and effective implementation of the projects particularly in the infrastructure sector, with due consideration to environment is the need of the hour and also the key to achieve higher economic and inclusive growth”, emphasized Dr C Rangarajan, Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister while addressing the Conference on ‘Reviving Growth in North’, organized by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Northern Region, coinciding with its Annual Regional Meeting, here today.

“Various procedural and other bottlenecks relating to the mega infrastructure projects, key Industrial and freight Corridors etc need to be removed on priority basis to give a fillip to the growth in the region”, he added.

Dr Rangarajan further informed that “In addition to the continuation of fiscal consolidation initiatives, the basic principle of reforms must also be applied to all key sectors of the economy and all possible policy or other bottlenecks, causing delay in completion of projects should be analyzed and sorted out on top priority. This is critical to enhance India’s image as an attractive investment destination”.

“There is a need to prioritize the spending on subsidies and subsequently I hope we would be able to bring the subsidy spending down to 1.6% from current 2.2 % of the GDP. Critical sectors like food security do demand subsidies, but it can be withdrawn from other sectors like Petroleum etc to bring about a balance”, he highlighted.

Stressing on the need to improve governance, he called upon the Governments ( both state & centre) to enhance their delivery systems so that all measures actually reach the needy effecivley.

“The growth rate would be around 5.5 % in the last fiscal which would enable us to achieve our projected rate of 4.9 % for the present year. For the next year, I expect the growth rate to pick up to 5.5 – 6 % backed by sound growth in agri, services & infra sectors”, informed Dr Rangarajan.

Calling upon CII members to enhance their productivity levels, Dr Rangarajan highlighted that “The Investment rate at 30.4 % still remains sufficient, but we need to focus strongly upon the productivity and returns on investments to enhance Incremental Capital Ratio. For this, we should invest more in technology up gradation, modern infrastructure and adoption of latest mechanisms & processes to get the maximum returns of whatever Investments we have”.

Highlighting some of the sectoral issues, he stressed that “We have some constraints in Power sector due to lack of supply of coal; agri, manufacturing, infra etc which need to be sorted out immediately. Power is indeed the backbone of growth, so we need to further build on our power generation capacities in order to fuel growth. Industry can in no way run without power and without industrial growth, there can be no inclusive or equitable growth because it is industry that generates huge employment”.

On other reforms like Land Legislation and labour reforms, he shared that “There is a need to get all stakeholders together and build a consensus on these issues and only then, the government can decide further”.

A CII Report on ‘Reviving Growth in North’ was also released by Dr C Rangarajan.

Mr D K Joshi, Chief Economist, CRISIL Ltd shared that “Power, Land and labour reforms are the core of the problem for north. Various procedural bottlenecks need to be removed both at the central and state level. Issues like interest rates, fiscal policy and political stability need to be addressed at the national level, however, issues like land prices, labour and power reforms can be taken care of at State level for better results”.

“There is a need to bring flexible labour laws, bring out new technologies for coal mining and extract iron ores below earth’s crust, enhance ease of setting up new business and conversion of Agri land, and most importantly increase our power production capacities to revive the growth in the region”

Global uncertainty has taken a toll on the Indian economy with the GDP for past two years growing at sub 5 per cent per annum, much below the potential growth rate said Mr Jayant Davar, Chairman, CII NR & Co-Chairman & Managing Director, Sandhar Technologies Ltd.

Emphasizing on the reform agenda to revive and accelerate growth, he urged for expediting the setting up of notified National Manufacturing Investment Zones (NIMZs), fast tracking approvals for delayed projects, appropriate legislation for consolidation of farm holdings and implementation of the Model APMC Act in its true spirit across all states.

Mr Naoyoshi NOGUCHI, Chief Director General, Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) highlighted that “There is a need to promote the entire northern region as a single entity. He emphasized on importance of having common policies and taxation system, seamless movement of people and sharing of resources like power and water to foster inclusive growth in the region. He further added that there is a need to provide better living conditions to the migrant population as well as focused initiatives on skill development for enhancing their employability.

The complex business regulatory framework is adversely impacting the Ease of Doing Business in the country said Mr Zubin J Irani, Deputy Chairman, CII Northern Region & President, Building & Industrial Systems (India), United Technologies Corporation. There is a need to review the compliance and regulatory processes to make them more simple and relevant, added Mr Irani.

The CII Conference, themed on ‘Reviving Growth in North’ focused on the critical reforms to revive growth and the role of good governance in promoting inclusive growth. This conference also included two panel discussions on ‘Fostering Inclusive Growth through Good Governance’ and Industry CEOs of the Region on ‘Reviving the Growth in North’. Eminent speakers from the industry and the government including Mr Arun Maira, Member, Planning Commission, Mr Manish Sisodia, Founding Member, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Ms Chhavi Rajawat, Director, Bharatiya Mahila Bank & Sarpanch, Soda Village, Rajasthan, Mr Deep Kapuria, Chairman, Hi-Tech Group of Companies, Mr Vijay K Thadani, CEO, NIIT Ltd and Mr Malvinder M Singh, Executive Chairman, Fortis Healthcare Ltd shared their perspective at the conference.