The country can become a $1 trillion manufacturing economy provided the government and industry determinedly worked on the target, says Dr Pawan Goenka, Chairman, CII Manufacturing Council & Managing Director, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, while speaking exclusively to Manish Pant of IPF. However, according to him, it would remain a pipe dream without the participation of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

 

How feasible is the possibility of the country becoming a $1 trillion manufacturing economy by 2025-26?

 

That depends how closely the government and industry work together. Neither the government nor the industry can do it on their own. We need to come together to work towards that objective. The gap that we see between the government and industry needs to be filled. Similarly, the divide between public and private sector enterprise, the divide between an MNC and Indian manufacturer, and the divide between an OEM and supplier, all those need to be closed. It’s not an easy task but it’s not impossible either. Therefore, I won’t say that I am very hopeful because, at this point, we don’t know how much everyone can be brought together to work on it. But if we can, it can be done.

 

What are the core strengths of the country’s manufacturing sector that will help take it to the next level?

 

It is our people who are very hard working and innovative. What we are not able to do as an industry is to leverage that hard work and innovativeness. We need to bring in a lot of R&D and technology into our manufactured goods as well as increase the value-add. India tends to export low value-added products and import high value-added products. We need to export high value-added products and for that, we need to introduce technology into our manufacturing.

 

So, what are the key ingredients required to build that ecosystem of competitiveness?

 

We need to take a long-term vision by investing in the future at both the government and industry level. The government should not think for just two to three years but plan for at least the next 15 to 20 years. That is somewhat lacking right now and we need to work on that and not merely look at a one or two-year payback; because when we do that, we end up making a short-term investment.

 

Here the role of the Indian MSMEs will be highly critical. Do you think the aspirations of that segment are being adequately addressed?

 

No, they are not! But I think that even there it’s a case of both sides having to work on it. The MSME sector needs to realise that it has to cater to itself and not rely on someone to do that. The sector needs to improve the quality of products and increase the use of technology. However, that will never happen if it remains solely dependent on government support. MSMEs need to work with OEMs and tier-one suppliers and vice versa. The OEMs and tier-one suppliers need to handhold MSMEs to make them walk with them but then the sector also needs to be willing to take that walk. Without MSME participation India can never get to the target of $1 trillion manufacturing economy because it’s the backbone of manufacturing. Therefore, MSMEs have to work in close collaboration with large OEMs.

 

Given the highly disruptive times that we live in when everyone is concerned about Industry 4.0 and job losses, how important is it to reskill the workforce?

 

Very important! Look, there is one concern that I have and it is that while the number of jobs won’t reduce with Industry 4.0, can the current workforce be reskilled to move from their present jobs to new kinds of jobs? I am not convinced that all of our people can be reskilled. Therefore, what happens to the livelihood of those who cannot be reskilled is something that I am very concerned about. And we need to start work on that immediately.