Make in India should be 'Made by India': Prof Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya

To foster the indigenous manufacturing and thereby facilitate economic growth, ‘Make in India’ should ideally be ‘Made by India’, according to Prof Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya, Chairman, Warwick Manufacturing Group, UK. Speaking at the CII session on ‘Make in India: The Next Wave’, yesterday, Prof Bhattacharyya, stressed that India’s future should be to lead global innovation and it should invest in global partnership of innovation for creation of outstanding products.
 
Praising the ‘Make in India’ initiative spearheaded by the government, he said that the Make in India initiative has a huge momentum not only in India but abroad as well.
   
Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) was founded by Prof Bhattacharyya in 1980 to help reinvigorate UK manufacturing. From its inception WMG’s mission has been to improve the competitiveness of organisations through the application of value adding innovation, new technologies and skills deployment, bringing academic rigour to industrial and organisational practice.
 
Reflecting on his journey as a part of the Warwick Manufacturing Group, Prof Lord Bhattacharyya stressed that technology, training, skills and infrastructure had helped renew and restore Britain’s manufacturing industry and Indian should learn from Britain’s experience.
 
He compared the current positive developments in manufacturing sector in India with that in China in 1980’s and felt that India’s growth was looking self-sustaining at this stage. He, however, cautioned that India should not become complacent and underestimate China. Over the recent years China has adopted the culture of innovation and has moved away from the culture on imitation and India should learn from China too, he added.
 
Amitabh Kant, Secretary, DIPP, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, sought to partner with Prof Lord Kumar Bhattacharya to take forward India’s manufacturing several notches up. “India is at the cusp of a major change, and it should fully utilise its growth potential, by focussing on a paradigm shift in manufacturing sector,” he added.
 
According to Sudarshan Venu, joint managing director, TVS Motor Company, India’s manufacturing sector has a potential to contribute 25 per cent to GDP and generate 80 million jobs in the next decade. Praising India’s manufacturing prowess, Venu, commented that passenger vehicle manufacturers across the globe are now leveraging the Indian advantage provided by India’s manufacturing hubs.
 
Banmali Agrawala, President & CEO- GE South Asia, General Electric Company, commented that in order to promote the Indian manufacturing sector there must be focus on improving the market size, financing the manufacturing units and making technology relevant to Indian standards.
 
Stating that India should embrace the domestic as well as the global market, Dr Mukund G Rajan, member - group executive council, brand custodian and chief ethics officer, Tata Sons Ltd, said, “A way forward for India needs to focus upon preparation for climate change as it would drive us towards renewables, embrace digitisation & innovation and creation of intellectual property rights.”