India’s manufacturing sector is showing clear signs of positive change due to the consistent efforts by the government and a conducive policy framework. It’s a challenging task to imbibe the spirit of self-reliance in the manufacturing sector. Considering the governance, taxation and policy related issues of the past decades, there is a big transformation taking place in the manufacturing sector. Now a big change is visible, the mood is upbeat and the government is taking proactive steps to bolster indigenous manufacturing ecosystem.

Self-reliant India is the new vision set to be pursued by the manufacturing sector. The Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan (self-reliant India movement) is the vision of new India envisaged by the government. It was a clarion call to the nation for invoking the spirit of self-reliance in every sector, especially in the field of indigenous manufacturing. The government announced the special economic and comprehensive package of Rs 20 lakh crores - equivalent to 10% of India’s GDP – to fight the pandemic in India. The vision needs to be pursued further for overall development of the manufacturing sector across segments. Self-reliant India Movement aims to make the country and its citizens independent and self-reliant in all sense. The government announced reforms and schemes across seven sectors under Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan.

The government took several bold reforms such as implementation of Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes in the electronics manufacturing sector. The security industry is looking forward to Self-reliant India Movement with new hope and aspirations.

The Indian government’s initiative for ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ or self-reliance has been undertaken with a long term vision. With continued government support, India is expected to emerge as the global manufacturing hub. To make India self-sufficient and a global manufacturing hub, infrastructure and ecosystem needs to be developed.

Pillars of Atmanirbhar Bharat mission
There are five pillars on which a self-reliant India is expected to be based: economy, infrastructure, system, demography, and demand. Made robust by all the five facets, the micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) sector can play a critical role in achieving the long-term vision of Atmanirbhar (self-reliant) India.

A major step to be taken by the government towards building world-class stellar infrastructural facilities is the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) in which investments expected to be made are over INR 100 lakh crore. Also, the rural infrastructure needs to be upgraded.

Another aspect that is expected to accelerate India’s growth is innovation in the manufacturing industry. The post pandemic resurgence of a self-reliant India presents numerous opportunities for strategic disruptions across verticals. The key objective is to boost domestic manufacturing sector by being ‘Vocal for Local’ and ultimately taking ‘Local to Global’. There is a critical need to encourage indigenous production and make India self-sufficient in various emerging manufacturing segments.

Recognising security industry as MSME Sector
Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) is the second-largest employment provider in India. Recognising the security industry as MSME will definitely help to upscale and grow it further. Currently, there are around 56 million such enterprises across several industries, employing about 124 million people approximately. Owing to this reason, the MSME sector is known as the growth engine of the nation. Making MSMEs robust would have multiple impetuses that will boost the economy and employment.

To strengthen MSMEs there are three critical aspects that need to be taken care of: availability of skilled labour in MSME clusters, ensuring financial stability through adequate funding and enhancing the market competitiveness of their products to achieve both – import substitution and exports.

Security trends
The security product manufacturing sector has a much bigger role to play in the post pandemic scenario to expand and grow through innovation. The key trends are showing the positive impact and improvement to help and support the cause of public safety and evolving security requirements.

Intelligent video technology: Powered by AI, security cameras, monitors densely populated locations to ensure employees follow vital safety precautions – including social distancing, mask wearing and flow control – and provide Touch-Free Access Control.

Multi-dimensional perception: Multi-dimensional perception capabilities will play a fundamental role in taking the video security industry to the next level, and we constantly see growing numbers of integrated security devices and systems with multiple sensors.

Visibility – Any time, any condition: It’s vital to have cameras that can respond effectively to capture clear images, no matter what time of day or night or how bad the weather is.With thermal imaging, the rendered image is far less affected by even the most light-obscuring of these conditions.

5G technology for UHD and wireless video security: 5G technology may bring great changes to the security industry. 5G’s greater bandwidth and lower latency make the regular transmission of high-quality images possible, and, with the widespread adoption of ultra-high-definition (UHD) cameras, could bring new opportunities for video security.

Convergence of multiple security systems: We operate in an industry where users expect comprehensive solutions. The concept of systems working seamlessly together has long been desired by the vast majority of security professionals. The benefits of converging multiple security systems – including video, access control, alarm, fire prevention and emergency management – into a unified platform are manifold, with efficiency and cost-effectiveness the most obvious.

Core challenges
The security manufacturing industry is facing multiple challenges on various fronts. It has performed very well despite the challenges faced due to the pandemic scenario. Supply chain disruption and managing it effectively in a time bound manner was a great learning experience, we had gone through the various phases of pandemic challenges and recovery. We need the resilience and innovative strategies to overcome the challenges.

It is important to align the vision of self-reliant India with key stakeholders. They have to be engaged in an effective manner. We are following the ‘Make-in-India’ 2.0 vision and it is a perfect manufacturing roadmap for a self-reliant future.

Indigenous manufacturing
The key priority is to keep on innovating and evolving as an organisation while navigating through evolving challenges and opportunities. We have set the strategic priorities of our goals based on capacity, capital and capability. Our focus is on the evolving market trends, technology advantages, customer and employee demand for societal impact. The customer expectations are very high, there is an intense pressure to deliver results despite increasing competition, economic uncertainty and upheaval.

We are excited to serve the growing demand for Video Security Cameras after a log spell of the pandemic. The sudden surge in demand is spurring the growth of the security industry. It was a great learning experience for all of us to go through the various phases of pandemic challenges and recovery. We had the resilience and innovative strategies on our side to communicate and engage the target audience in a simple and effective manner. We are following the ‘Make-in-India’ vision and it is a perfect manufacturing roadmap for the future.

The key priority for our management leadership is to keep on innovating and evolving as an organisation while navigating through the evolving challenges and opportunities. We have set the strategic priorities of our goals based on capacity, capital and capability. Our focused marketing initiatives are based on the evolving market trends, technology advantages, customer and employee demand for societal impact. The customer expectations are very high, there is an intense pressure to deliver results despite increasing competition, economic uncertainty and upheaval. In other words, we are fully prepared with the relevant market strategies for various market scenarios 2021-2022.

Make-in-India 2.0
We are putting our best efforts to meet the local demand by ramping up the production at our ‘Make-in–India’ manufacturing facility. Our state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Vasai near Mumbai is a shining example of our long-term commitment towards ‘Make-in-India’ vision. We have made a big-ticket investment and plans are underway for further expansion. To fulfill the growing demand requirement of skilled workforce in security product manufacturing, we are taking various initiatives to train the young workforce.

Skilling imperative
Steps taken in true spirits can massively benefit the MSMEs and their progress would translate into the progress of the whole economy. A successful and robust manufacturing industry will spell economic success and development in the coming times, thus fulfilling the larger goal envisioned by AtmaNirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.

Partnership with NSDC
With an aim to provide impetus for the Skill India Mission, Hikvision India has partnered with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to offer security technology training for India’s youth. The company will be providing security and video surveillance products and technology related training and certification programs Hikvision Certified Security Associate (HCSA) and Hikvision Certified Security Professional (HCSP) by collaborating with NSDC. This partnership is helping in promoting the security sector's specific skills and ecosystem development, which will further prepare India’s technical workforce for getting jobs or setting up their own business enterprises.

Our association with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) is the sign of our deep-rooted commitment towards Skill India mission. It is our endeavour to impart training with all the necessary technical skills so that India’s youth can turn into successful entrepreneurs in the security industry. The HCSA and HCSP training and certification programs are helpful to enhance the skills and knowhow of installers, system integrators and security professionals and have the requisite skills needed for the future.

These skilling and training initiatives are driving the electronic security product manufacturing roadmap for a self-reliant India.

Technology Adoption
The adoption of new technology-based solutions is expected to bring the much-needed transformation in the manufacturing sector, thus making the sector a bigger participant in the development of Indian economy. The pandemic has turned the focus towards becoming self-reliant by emphasising on local manufacturing, which will be the key to India’s survival, thus giving a major boost to the Indian manufacturing sector. The key transformative technologies, including AI (Artificial Intelligence), Machine Learning (ML), IoT (Internet of things), Machine Vision, Block Chain, Robotics, Cloud computing and Digital Twins, are going to be a game changer.

AI and ML Trends
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) technology innovations and advanced applications are shaping the future of the technology ecosystem in the video security industry. AI and ML Technology adoption is going to be a critical factor for the growth of the video security industry. The AI applications are redefining the future course of the security industry’s evolution.

With AI enabled video analytics, there is no need to compromise. Smart systems can identify the difference between humans, animals, and objects and then trigger alerts based only on those identified signatures regardless of surrounding video noise like blowing leaves, headlights, inclement weather or other factors. This capability allows to focus specifically on security goals, which means one can expand the field of view as wide as necessary. And with new flexibility comes new opportunities for adaptation and evolution. In an era where AI and Machine Learning technologies are driving us to the next levels of agility and adaptability, the new security playbook is a work in progress.

About the author:
Ashish Dhakan is the Managing Director & CEO of Prama Hikvision India Pvt Ltd. A first-generation entrepreneur with rare foresight and zeal, he has raised the bar for the security industry in India by setting a new benchmark. An out of the box thinker and business leader, Ashish Dhakan has supported the cause of Indian security industry through various industry bodies and forums.