India should prepare itself to grab the opportunities in the digitisation era, says Ramadorai

The fourth wave of industrial revolution poses new challenges, but solutions are available, he said

The fourth wave of industrial revolution, which is the growth of disruptive digital technology, is catching up fast and India should be ready to adapt to those technologies, said S Ramadorai, chairman of National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC).

While delivering the Nani Palkhivala Memorial Lecture on "Are we ready for the fourth industrial revolution", he said that while the previous industrial revolutions took their own time to peak and mainstream, the time taken for mass adoption is becoming shorter.

"Going forward, constantly getting re-skilled will be an imperative. While the Government will do its part, the onus of keeping up, lies equally with us. Chances can be exciting if we adopt the right attitude," he said.

The key technological advances are driving the dramatic change, including the improvements in artificial intelligence, robotics, convergence of nanotechnology, biotechnology and healthcare, 3D printing and internet of things.

This will not be impacted on India in the same way as it does in more advanced nations. The mobile phone impacted India in more far reaching ways than it did in those nations and similarly India has an opportunity to leapfrog on the back of the fourth Industrial revolution to create an accelerated and differentiated growth trajectory for itself.

"With a population of more than 1.3 billion and with a prediction of becoming the world's youngest population by 2022, I believe the smart thing to do is to position ourselves advantageously for new things to come," he said.

"Currently the fourth industrial revolution may be the last thing on the minds of most Indians. India has other issues which it is grappling with - bridging the infrastructure gap, enabling electricity and sanitation in our villages, briding the digital divide and improving the last mile connectivity across rural areas. The country is also working to harness human capital through skill development of the one million youth joining the workforce every month. The government, over the past two years, has launched several initiatives like Make in India, Digital India, Skill India, Smart Cities and Start Up India," he said. 

"The fourth industrial revolution will help India meet the expectations of Internet savvy young Indians. The challenges for the fourth industrial revolution include the concerns of labour market owing to the automation, as replacing humans with robots in manufacturing is a trend that one cannot stop or avoid. However, one can be better prepared by being open to learning new skills," he said.

"The academia should update the curriculum quickly, introduce new areas of emerging importance. The current model of academia and industry working in silos will fail us badly," he added.