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The CII President T V Narendran on Wednesday said India should think outside the regime of incentives and subsidies and improve its competitiveness and productivity. He suggests ramping up R&D expenditure for being future-ready.
During his speech at the 'Being Future Ready Business Summit 2022', Narendran observed that a responsible and conscious industry must think beyond its priorities to drive positive change for the country. He believes that the recalibration of global supply chains has the potential to enable the industry to embed itself more firmly in the international arena and expand its global footprint.
The CII President said, "We must move away from a risk-averse culture to a mindset that proactively explores all markets and all sectors. The many new free trade agreements being signed with our key market partners open up immense opportunities for our international engagement and we must support and leverage these to the optimum," as per the PTI report.
He suggested industry shift their focus on developing competitiveness through workforce skilling, innovation, quality, and sustainability.
"It is absolutely essential for industry to ramp up R&D expenditure for being future ready," the CII President said.
As per Narendran, the Indian industry's share in total R&D spending is approximately 37% compared to 80% in South Korea and 77% in China. He further also said that industry tie-up with academia and research institutions on R&D is critical
Meanwhile, the report also highlighted CII President-Designate Sanjiv Bajaj who spoke in length about how the industry must prepare for 'India@100' - when the nation completes a century of its Independence from British Rule in 2047. He believes engagement with the needs of society and the community - is an important area that will define the future of the industry.
Bajaj also mentioned that the digital revolution, including fintech, e-commerce, etc is creating immense opportunities for the Indian industry - that will make it future-ready to cater to community needs, and all this will be an integral part of the India@100 agenda.
Further, CII Vice President Pawan Munjal brought attention to the sustainability issue and the role of industry in trimming the carbon footprint. In the report, he acknowledged that the industry has played a significant role in promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency.
Munjal believes there are immense opportunities currently being created in new industries such as green mobility, renewable energy, circular economy, and green hydrogen. Also, electric vehicles have been driven by new policies to improve efficiencies. He said India Inc should take a strong position in assessing global markets.