The event expects to attract thousands of global corporate bigwigs who will, hopefully, invest in world-class manufacturing facilities in India. It also hopes to foster the sharing of ideas that benefit the country. It is, in other words, an effort designed to take Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ exhortation from slogan to reality.
The first of its kind in India, MiIW is organised by the Government of India’s Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP). Unlike similar national efforts in the past, it is not happening in Delhi. A possible reason: Delhi state has no land available to create new manufacturing facilities; other states which do have the space will have to lead this. Why Maharashtra, and Mumbai? Aside from the city’s traditional role as India’s finance and business capital, Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis, shares a good rapport with the PM, and seems to one of the next gen politicians being groomed for the national stage.
The DIPP has invited business houses, mainly from the manufacturing sectors, as well as SMEs, to participate in the event and put up stalls at the venue. The Hindu spoke to a number of invitees: none said they felt compelled to participate, though some did admit, off the record, that they felt it would not be polite to refuse. In fact, the underlying mood was one of optimism and pride.
Various business houses and industry associations have offered to do their bit for the event to ensure that it becomes a grand success and leaves a positive impression in the minds of foreign delegates and prospective investors.
“We have offered to create an India evening for the visiting CEOs. We will showcase what India is doing in terms of diamonds, gems and jewellery,” said Praveenshankar Pandya, Chairman, Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council.
“This event will create awareness on India in terms of what we are doing and how we can deliver.There was the euphoria of getting things done in China, 20 years ago; India missed out as we did not have a cohesive policy and concerted strategy. Today with the government pushing initiatives like ‘Make in India,’ people will take notice of us and the quality of manufacturing will go up automatically to keep up to expectations.”
Asked what he thought would result, in concrete terms, Pandya said, “It is too early to say. But when you announce things in a certain fashion, the desired objective will be achieved. The only thing is at what pace? There is no doubt that things will go in a positive direction but to give pace to the PM’s idea, other departments of the government and the states will have to do their job.”
Navroze Godrej, head of strategy and innovation, Godrej & Boyce, feels positive. “The more people enter the manufacturing sector, pursue careers in design, the better it shapes India’s future. Large companies like Godrej should be supporting it. I am sure it will have a rub-off on the approach industry takes in investing in manufacturing. The corollary to that is, the manufacturing sector will only grow and India will only become globally recognised if there is simultaneous emphasis on design.”
Godrej believes that among the objectives of the event is to encourage young people to look at careers in manufacturing and engineering, to “start a movement at the grassroots level. The more young people are encouraged to enter this field, the more sustainable India’s growth will be.”
Shoe and clothing manufacturer Woodland India is contemplating stopping the sourcing of products from China and Bangladesh, Harkirat Singh, the company’s MD said. “We are now encouraged to manufacture all our required products here. We will invest in new factories and we expect the government to encourage local manufacturing,” he added.
On the event, he said, “The slogan has created a buzz. Europeans who have been sourcing products from China, Bangladesh and even Africa are considering sourcing from India and are willing to invest.” He, however, also sounded a note of caution: “One should not expect quick returns, it is for the longer term. The Chinese worked very hard to convince the world that they can deliver and were very consistent with their approach [and only then] could they become the factory of the world.”
G Raj Narayan, MD and Chief Innovator of the Bengaluru-based Radel Group, which is into aerospace and electronics, feels that China’s emergence as the world’s low cost manufacturing base literally shut the lid on India’s factories which were completely unable to compete leading to many of them turning to trading rather than manufacturing.
“The slogan appears to aim at encouraging product manufacturing within India instead of importing. Though this would certainly lead to establishment of modern factories in India with substantial investments by global companies, this would not contribute to long-term benefits unless Indian companies themselves create our own products of global standards.
Make in India needs to encourage Indian intellect, design and manufacture. The correct interpretation of this slogan would be to ‘Design, Innovate and Make in India,’ he said. However, he added that ‘Make in India’ has remained a slogan and campaign so far. “There is absolutely no change on the ground as far as MSMEs are concerned.
Considerable policy and procedural changes are required to make any difference on the ground and this would definitely take time to percolate down to operating levels of the bureaucracy. Sweeping changes must be made to the system itself to ensure a time-bound completion of tasks, and make every member of the bureaucracy accountable for this, with severe punitive measures for defaulters,” he said.
Source: The Hindu
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