Labour, technology two critical issues for Make in India: BCG

Says global companies are in wait-and-see mode with regard to taxation, land issues, GST and other big bang reforms the govt has announced to see how they are implemented

Labour efficiency and technology development are two critical issues to deliberate upon in the next phase of 'Make in India', according to Boston Consulting Group (BCG) India MD Arindam Bhattacharya.

"Two critical issues to address in the next phase of 'Make in India' are labour reforms, and technology development beyond low value-added assembly," Bhattacharya told PTI.

"What we don't want is wages growing faster than productivity. That can fundamentally make the manufacturing uncompetitive. We need labour reforms to create more efficient labour markets," he indicated.

"Second is focusing on technology development. We need to move beyond just low value-added assembly and build our own technology," he added.

Arindam Bhattacharya recently took the helm at BCG's new strategy institute Bruce Henderson Institute for Asia and emerging markets.

Speaking about investments in India, he said, "While we have not seen an uptake in investments, perceptions are beginning to change."

"Global companies are in wait-and-see mode with regard to taxation, land issues, GST and other big bang reforms the government has announced to see how they are implemented."

"The sense is that government is focusing on the building blocks of land, water, power, labour, raw material, education system. It is critical that all these issues be sorted out for investment to come in," he added.

When asked what the top priorities for companies should be in the short-term he said, "companies should focus on digital strategy."

"The biggest discontinuity will come from technology. Companies be it banks or automotive sector, will need a good digital strategy to improve day to day operations, to use technology to service customers, to improve efficiencies etc."

In the long-term, he said all companies needed to focus on how they transition their business to build institutions.

"In India 70 percent of our businesses are family owned. Barring a few, most are first or second generation. How they transition into creating institutions will be critical for their future success," he pointed out.