NEW DELHI, 6 December 2018 : Anand Singh Bhal, Principal Economic Adviser, DIPP (Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion) said here, that the New Industrial Policy, to be announced soon, will address the challenges faced by the manufacturing sector encompassing of adoption of standards and quality control to impart competitiveness and take Indian manufacturing to the next level of technology to make the country’s industrial base strong.
Speaking at the ‘India – Korea Technology & Education Exchange Forum’ organised by FICCI jointly with Korea India Business Centre (KIBC) and Korea Productivity Center (KPC), Bhal said that India has moved from an agrarian economy to service dominated one. The manufacturing sector has lagged and the time is opportune to give primacy to this sector. “India is not a very strong manufacturing nation and only contributes to 16 per cent of our GDP which is not very good,” he added.
Under the ‘Make in India’ initiative, the Government of India aims to increase the share of the manufacturing sector to the gross domestic product (GDP) to 25 per cent by 2022.
He also said that India had a lot to learn from South Korea in terms of innovation in the manufacturing sector and creating a robust industrial base. The learnings and their implementation will also create large avenues for employment, the burden of which is currently borne by the services sector.
Dr Amita Prasad, Director General, National Productivity Council (NPC), said that NPC plays a key role in promoting productivity by harnessing the strengths of technology in education. The government has planned to develop five incubation centres for Internet of Things (IoT) start-ups as part of Prime Minister’s plan of ‘Digital India’ and ‘Start-up Campaign’ with at least two centres to be set-up in the rural areas to develop solutions for smart agriculture.
She said that both India and Korea can partner on India?s flagship initiatives such as ‘Make in India’, ‘Skill India’, ‘Digital India’, ‘Start-up India’ and ‘Smart Cities Mission’ and added that NPC had already singed a MoU with KPC and KIBC and these MoUs could be leveraged to deepen the partnership.
Dr Noh Kyoo Sung, Chairman & CEO, Korea Productivity Center, said that Korea’s Fourth Industrial Revolution sought to implement the intelligence innovation project on a large scale. The Fourth Industrial Revolution will be a golden opportunity for Korea as software is the core technology serving as the convergence of every industry. Dr Pankaj Mittal, Additional Secretary, University Grants Commission (UGC), highlighted the various schemes and projects initiated by the government in up-scaling India’s higher education to bring it to international levels.
Mincheol Kim, Minister Counsellor, Embassy of Republic of Korea, laid emphasis on developing the education system by creating synergies between India and Korea. “Both of us together are imperative than necessary in the education sector,” he added. Som Mittal, Chairman, FICCI Electronics & White Goods Manufacturing Committee, said that while India and Korea have strong business relations, it is also time to combine the human capital to make it much stronger, especially in the education sector as human capital resource will play an important role in the future.
