Interview The Trends of Indian Manufacturing

An interview with Executive Director and CEO, Rajesh Khatri o f Tal manufacturing solutions Ltd about the latest trends of the industry, the buzzword industry 4.0 and the comparison with China.

What is the current perspective on importing equipment versus developing locally?

As on today, 50- 55% of machines are getting imported. That is primarily because special machines are not made in India especially the large machine used for aerospace. We have a long way to go in terms of catching upon the technology side, the smaller things like aesthetics, the quality of the machine, the reliability of the machines, these are some of the areas where we still need to benchmark and improve and really come up to the global level. That is why I think imports will still continue for some more time though there is a growing awareness in the industry. They are putting efforts, they have done very structured studies, they are putting lot of efforts to really address these issues but still at least for the next 2-3 years, I think this trend will continue.

What can you tell us on the latest trends of the industry?

Industry 4.0 is a buzzword now however if I go into the genesis of it I think there is a need for automation. A bigger trend is to go into tool/closed automation, something which is quite global and not just in India currently. The density of robots in India is less than 1.1 in ten thousand workers whereas china is around 50 and china has grown more than 90 per cent CAGR over the last few years to reach that 50. Additionally, Korea is at 450 - imagine where we are required to go and what sort of effort will be required for us to catch up. The good thing is there is a growing awareness of these trends and adoption of the same in our country.

Is India the next China?

Of course a lot of emphasis has to be given to manufacturing in India due to the ‘make in India’ launch two years back but how many new industries have actually been set up? It has remained at a very macro level – what is needed now is to really translate it into policies which will be benefitting make in India. We have been talking about ease of doing business yes, though we may have moved certain scales up on the ease of doing business but a long way to go. We need very focused and dedicated effort on part of the government in terms of policies to promote manufacturing. Certainly we will catch up with China, there is no doubt about it because we have that much of potential. But it requires the support of the policies.

Also the Chinese government gives lot of incentives and subsides for manufacturing – a level to which we are yet to reach. We can be the new China with more effort.

Thank you for the interview.

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