India’s small and medium-sized industries can play a big role in making the country take the next big leap in manufacturing.
Jayant Rajan, General Manager – India and South Asia, Armacell India______________________________________________________________________
Insulating pipe and ductwork is one of the most effective ways to protect the value of an investment. The Armacell range of thermal insulation materials is specifically designed to meet the challenges posed by modern mechanical services.
Jayant Rajan, General Manager – India and South Asia, Armacell India shares his views on the economy, the industry and the ‘Make in India’ initiative.
Indian market is as diverse as its culture‘Make in India’ will help in leveraging the quality of insulation products due to awareness of the global scenario. The Indian market is quite diverse showing different behaviour in different cities and segments on account of diversity in the progress. “Innovation is the need of the hour and that’s what will drive this industry ahead in the near future and initiatives like ‘Make in India’ would help in overall growth of the Indian market,” says Mr Rajan.
Ensure a fairer competition‘Make in India’ is not only just an initiative but it needs to be embraced as a work culture across industries, for the Indian market is still dependent on a lot of technological imports. Mr Rajan feels, to succeed with ‘Make in India’, conducive taxation reforms and updating of existing legal procedures is extremely vital. The government should ensure single window approvals for maximum legal requirements which will ease the entry of foreign players in the market. This will also help in plugging the loopholes in the legal procedures ensuring a fairer competition in the market. “Conducive tax reforms would definitely help attract the global players to invest in India and end the policy paralysis across industries,” remarks Mr Rajan.
Give tax concession to foreign investors‘Make in India’ has a few challenges on its front like creating a healthy business environment which will be possible only when the administrative machinery is efficient. India has been very stringent when it comes to procedural and regulatory clearances. A business-friendly environment will only be created if India can signal easier approval of projects and set up hassle-free clearance mechanism. In addition to that India should also be ready to give tax concessions to companies who come and set up unit in the country. “India’s small and medium-sized industries can play a big role in making the country take the next big leap in manufacturing,” observes Mr Rajan.
China has outpaced India in manufacturingIndia should be more focused towards novelty and innovation for SMEs sector. Mr Rajan suggests, the government has to chart out plans to give special sops and privileges to these sectors. India’s ‘Make in India’ campaign will be constantly compared with China’s ‘Made in China’ campaign. China launched the campaign at the same day as India seeking to retain its manufacturing prowess. India should constantly keep up its strength so as to outpace China’s supremacy in the manufacturing sector. Also, India has to be better prepared and motivated to do world class R&D. “The government must ensure that it provides platform for such research and development,” remarks Mr Rajan.
Policy changes will drive growth of insulation industryIn the budget for fiscal year 2016, the government has given special impetus on green technologies and reducing the carbon footprint across industries and sectors. The boost to insulation industry has come through the focus the government has put on energy efficiency. Mr Rajan believes, “The promised tax reforms and policy up gradation will definitely help fuel the growth of insulation industry in India.”
Armacell India has grown by leaps and boundsArmacell has presence in India since 1999 and the Armacell India manufacturing plant was set up in 2006 in Pune which has since seen excellent year on year growth. “We are looking at expanding the footprint in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities where construction methods and quality are improving consistently,” Mr Rajan informs.
A growth strategy driven by market penetrationSpeaking of growth strategies that Armacell is driven by, Mr Rajan says, “The growth strategy at Armacell includes maintaining the current growth curve, geographical intensification, entering in market segments and applications where we were not present earlier and introducing new products, bringing more depth product wise that will drive our future growth. The plant in Pune already caters to the requirements across India. Globally, the company has a wide basket of products which going forward; it plans to introduce latest technologies not yet available in India, maybe within next one year.”
