'We have to focus on competitiveness'

INDIA ECONOMIC SUMMIT 2006/ INTERVIEW

Indian companies will have to devise clear-cut strategies on acquisitions to build their global presence, warns CII president and Managing Director of Ashok Leyland Ltd, R. Seshasayee

What are the expectations of the world community, which makes India a favourite business destination?

There are a lot of expectations from India, loaded with some unanswered questions. Three basic questions I see are: whether we have the financial structure in place for this massive growth; whether our infrastructure can support the requirements of rapid growth; and whether the utilisation of our large force of knowledge workers"" both in quality and skills"" is in line with the expectations of our people.

The GDP is growing remarkably. Will Indian industry able to sustain this growth in future?

We have to focus on competitiveness. Though overseas acquisitions are filling the gaps in competitiveness in some ways, Indian industry will have to incorporate all these practices in their operations for truly turning global.

Will the Indian business community be able to sustain its recent progress in becoming more globalised?

Yes, no doubt, but a note of caution on that. Unrealistic and unwise acquisitions by Japanese and Korean companies in the past have not been very successful. Indian companies will have to devise clear-cut strategies on acquisitions to build their global presence.

China seems a friendly destination for Indian companies with many common features and characteristics, but is growth fuelling competition between the two?

We are not competing in all sectors. China has some distinct advantages like huge scale economies, and we cannot compete on those, but there are areas and sectors where joint collaboration could help both the economies.

Which are the sectors where we can pool our strengths? Will it benefit India?

We can collaborate and blend our software capacities with Chinese hardware capacities. It could unleash mega growth for the capital goods industry.

For example, our vehicle electronics loaded with massive doses of innovation could be an ideal input for the large-scale Chinese auto industry. Our 'smart products' produced at China's volumes could be ahead of all global competition.

What does Indian industry need to focus on to remain competitive?

Our strength of knowledge-based industries along with productivity improvements. As a industry body, we have initiated 62 new projects to link industry with various fields"" research, academics, international interface and consultancy.

Cambridge and Imperial College are our knowledge partners and we have also established links with different academic institutions in Finland, Germany and Japan.