Adopting futuristic technologies is enabling Indian companies to take a quantum leap in terms of manufacturing growth. To meet the rising demands of customers, according to V Anbu, the machine tools industry is investing in Industry 4.0, IoT (Internet of Things), 3D printing, automation, artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics. 

 

Indian machine tool industry is reinventing itself through innovations to attune itself to the changing demands of its customers. The industry registered an impressive growth rate of 23% during 2016-17. Indian machine tool industry’s domestic market share is over 45% and the aim of the industry is to increase this considerably which will eventually reduce our dependence on imports. India stands 8th in consumption and 12th in production as per Gardner’s World Machine Tool Output Survey 2017.

 

Manufacturing sector contributes about 18% to India’s GDP. The country’s GDP growth during 2016-17 was 7.1% and it is expected to grow to 7.5% during 2017-18. The country’s purchasing managers index stood at 51.2 during September 2017 indicating growth. India was ranked 40th on a global index of the world’s most competitive economies. Foreign direct investment inflows to India during 2016-17 were around $ 60 billion compared to $ 55.6 billion during 2015-16. Government of India’s thrust is to take India’s GDP to $ 8 trillion in the next 15 years. Towards this, the government introduced the Make in India policy, which aims to promote investments in the manufacturing sector and increase manufacturing contribution in India’s GDP to 25% by 2025. 

 

Moody’s report has upgraded India’s credit ratings after 13 years. Moody expects that the reforms initiated by the Government of India would improve its business climate and stimulate foreign and domestic investments. The country’s moves such as demonetisation, Aadhaar, GST and direct benefit transfer will have a long-term impact in ease of doing business and foster sustainable growth. Production increased by 18% during April to June 2017 quarter as against the same period a year ago. Traditionally, machine tool industry has been catering largely to automobiles and auto components. However, machine tool manufacturers have recently begun diversifying their manufacturing solutions to tap emerging industry sectors such as aerospace, defence, railways, infrastructure equipments, etc. This is expected to give domestic consumption of Indian machine tools a big boost.   

 

Indian machine tool industry can be classified into metal-cutting machines and metal forming machines. Metal cutting accounted for 89.8% of the total output of machine tools in India in 2016-17. CNC machine tools which are highly productive and cost effective comprised about 84% of the machine tools produced during 2016-17. The estimated production of metal working machines during 2016-17 was Rs 5,803 crore ($ 853 million). Table 1 & 2 give details of production and consumption of machine tools in India.

 

Inherent strengths of India’s machine tools industry include:

 

• Capability to manufacture cost effective machines

• Strong emphasis on quality orientation

• Over 75% of total production of the industry coming from ISO certified producers which are also CE marked products

• Backward integration with sub-suppliers and vendors for greater local sourcing

 

Adopting futuristic technologies will enable Indian manufacturers take a quantum leap in terms of manufacturing growth. We are witnessing fourth industrial revolution and to meet the rising demands of customers, the machine tools industry is investing in Industry 4.0, IoT (Internet of Things), 3D printing, automation, artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics. 

 

These emerging trends in terms of technology will increase the productivity levels of the Indian machine tool industry and enable it to cater to the demand for ‘zero defect’ products. Indian companies are designing and manufacturing indigenously built technologies which make it evident that Indian machine tool industry is developing and is all set to be on par with manufacturing industries in developed countries.

 

V Anbu is the CEO and Director General of Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers’ Association (IMTMA), an apex association of machine tools and allied industries. Anbu is a metallurgical engineer from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore and has working experience of 24 years. Prior to joining IMTMA, he was with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) heading various key areas of technology/IPR activities.