Unique Indian way of progress needed to become global leader: TVS chairman

India needs to build its "unique Indian way of progress" to position itself as a global leader and a place to go for high quality services and products, TVS Motor Company Chairman Emeritus Venu Srinivasan said on Tuesday.

In his address at a symposium organised by Indian Foundation for Quality Management (IFQM), for which he is the Chairman, Srinivasan cautioned that India will continue to lag behind the world if it continued to follow other countries like Germany, the US, Japan, Korea and China.

"We (India) have been one of the major economies in the world in the past. 700 years ago we contributed one quarter to the world's economy. We were a central hub of trading, dominating land routes and maritime routes both the West and East," Srinivasan said.

He further said,"And from there we today find ourselves at a very low level in terms of our contribution to global trade in goods and services."

Elaborating reasons behind establishing IFQM, he said it is "really not about the small Q of quality of products or services, but it is about the big Q, the leadership transformation that will propel India to be recognised in the world for whatever we do as a place to go for high quality services and products".

"We want to build a unique Indian way of progress. If we follow the traditional trajectories that other countries have followed, going back to Europe, Germany, followed by America, Japan, Korea, China, then we will always be lagging the world," Srinivasan asserted.

Stressing that India needs to take a leap, he said,"We have to understand this unique Indian way in a country which is very diverse. Across the country there are different languages, different cultures, but yet united together under one Bharat."

He said as India strives to become a developed nation by 2047, immense opportunities are there for the country's industry across service, manufacturing, IT, engineering, aviation, healthcare and pharmaceuticals.