“100 million jobs not a dream, a reality!” [June 2012]

June 19, 2012 11:13 am

“100 million jobs could be a reality provided proper policies are put in place contributing to the growth of the manufacturing sector” feels Shivshankar Pikale, Managing Director, KTR Coupling (India)
Improve Efficiency in OperationsThe manufacturing sector in India has evolved and grown over a period of time. It can contribute significantly towards the country’s Gross Domestic Product and employment generation considering the fact that majority of the workforce in India have middle school education. For proper wealth distribution across the population, manufacturing sector has to grow from its current 17 per cent share of GDP to a number closer to 30 per cent, which is the standard for most developed economies. However, Shivshankar Pikale, Managing Director, KTR Coupling (India) observes, “To attain the target of 30 per cent contribution in GDP, the manufacturing sector needs to wean itself from its labour cost advantage and focus instead on markedly improving the efficiency of its operations through technology”.
Need to enhance productivityAccording to him, “The efficiency per employee and current productivity levels in the Indian manufacturing plants is half to one third levels of the standards prevailing in China and the western countries”. However, there are challenges in achieving such a target on the account of higher input costs due to indirect taxes, higher cost of utilities like power, transport, water, higher cost of finance and high transactions costs in comparison to some of the Asian countries. “Despite all this, KTR India has seen healthy growth over the past couple of years”, Mr. Pikale informed.
Barriers surrounding the sectorThere is a lack of awareness about the technological developments taking place globally. The technology adoption and up-gradation is slow in comparison to the developed countries. To overcome this inability, the manufacturers must increase productivity through the entire supply chain which requires real-time data transfer from the plant floor to be made available to the entire supply chain. The manpower productivity needs to be improved which is low compared to developed countries. Poor infrastructure, lack of knowledge and high cost of funds are the other hurdles when it comes to optimising resources.
Awareness IncreasingElaborating on the industry’s status over achieving excellence in manufacturing, Mr. Pikale said, “We are definitely below our potential in the manufacturing industries. However, I am hopeful that if measures are initiated towards improving our competitiveness, we will improve our performance. With the current trend of European and US manufacturers shifting their manufacturing base to India, I see awareness and overall improvement in process and quality of manufacturing. This is a welcome development for the Indian manufacturing industry”.
Expectations from 12th Five Year PlanThe 12th Five Year Plan commencing 2012 is going to be crucial as far as policy implementations are concerned. The government is expected to take lots of initiatives to keep the economy on the right track. Mr. Pikale suggests, “The government can take initiatives towards making the manufacturing industries more attractive by bringing stability to indirect taxes, uniform environmental regulations for the country, consolidate labour laws and comprehensive well documented Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy”. Infrastructure development like power, water, transportation, roads etc would boost the growth of manufacturing sector. 

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