Industrialists appear to see an opportunity in the current economic scenario at the CII Annual Manufacturing Conference though there was no dearth of people complaining of the lack of effective demand.
Baba Kalyani, CMD, Bharat Forge Ltd, emphasised the need for a clear-cut industrial policy where the government would have to play a pro-active role in deciding what to make, where and when with respect to heavy capital equipment. "It is important for industries, companies and associations to rally with the government and to try and impress them on the need to incentivise local industry to manufacture all that is needed, thereby reducing the need to import capital equipment," he said.
"The current rupee calibration provides huge opportunities for the manufacturing companies to export products as Indian companies are the most competitive. This opportunity is much bigger than the domestic market opportunities," he said. At a time when many countries are facing a shortage of skilled manpower, India can benefit from its favourable demography .
Despite the state government being known for a more services-sector friendly policy, an official said the government would all all it can to assist the manufacturing industry. "The state government will strengthen existing clusters, and are also actively working towards identifying two or three new clusters. Land is an issue and I feel the solution is for companies to move to tier 2 cities and therefore we need to identify and create those facilities which would attract companies to these tier 2 and tier 3 cities," said Maheshwar Rao, IAS, Director of Industries & Commerce said.
