"Manufacturing is a broader issue. We have created 2,500 manufacturing jobs but also 2,000 engineering jobs. Not investing in R&D will mean we won't have something to manufacture," JLR Executive Director Mike Wright said at a one-day conference here.
Referring to criticism that Indian immigrants are taking away jobs from local citizens, India's High Commissioner to the UK, Jaimini Bhagwati, said, "The amount of employment generated by Indian companies are far more than the jobs taken by Indian immigrants."
Describing JLR as the largest employer in the UK in the automotive sector, Wright said that manufacturing needs to be promoted among school children to attract the best talent.
"The biggest challenge is lack of skill-base. Manufacturing needs to be made sexy for school children to attract the best of talent," he said.
Speaking at the conference organised by CII and CBI on India-UK Partnership in Reviving and Restoring Economic Growth yesterday, the Indian High Commissioner said that there are not too many destinations for investment which are better than India.
Rajiv Lall, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, IDFC Ltd said, "This is the time to invest in India and those who plan to invest must have a long-term perspective."
Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Bharti Enterprises said "India today has 950 million with telephone facility and of them 920 million have mobile phones. The mobile tariff in India is the lowest in the world".
He wanted investors to be "positive" in their attitude while investing in India.
Rajendra Pawar, Chairman, NIIT said, "the number of (charity) foundations coming up in India is remarkable.
Sunil Munjal, Joint Managing Director, Hero MotoCorp Ltd said "we are going to see the largest migration from rural to urban areas in India in the next 30 years and we have to create jobs in the manufacturing sector."
Rajan Nanda, Chairman and Managing Director, Escorts Limited said "India is the country with the largest number of entrepreneurs and we are competitive."
