State of Industrial Innovation in India: Where Are We Today?

“If you want to walk fast, walk alone. If you want to walk far, walk together.” This is a wonderful quote by the great Indian industrialist Shri Ratan Tata. And there is a lot of sense in this quote for India's industrial future.

If India wants to walk fast and become the superpower it is to become, it must have the courage to tread a different path, the path to rapid industrialization and innovation, and walk that path alone. India has already expressed the desire for rapid industrialization, and it is self-sufficient in both resources and technology.

If India must go far, then our country would need the help of experts and established think tanks across sectors and states and incentives through friendly investment opportunities from the states and the center. India will be writing a new chapter, and it will need all the help and support it can get. Let us start by looking at the government initiatives that are in progress right now and powering industrial innovation.

Government Initiatives in Progress

1. Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme

A program designed to promote domestic manufacturing, investments under Make in India, and exports is called the production linked incentive scheme. Under this program, incentives are provided to companies for incremental sales of products manufactured in India.

2. Atmanirbhar Bharat (Self-Reliant India)

Atmanirbhar Bharat (Self-Reliant India) packages were founded to provide relief to the economy under the impact of the pandemic. `MSMEs were supported under this with a 3-lakh crore collateral free loans to meet their operational liabilities.

3. National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP)

The NIP program aims to build world-class manufacturing infrastructure across the country. Projects are underway in both social and economic categories and all the states and union territories in India are cooperating to make it a success.

4. One District One Product (ODOP) Initiative

This is a program that aims to promote balanced regional development in India. In this program, we select, brand and promote a product from each district. The aim is to bring about socio-economic development throughout the country and to promote local entrepreneurship.

5. National Single Window System (NSWS)

A single digital platform that easily allows you to apply for approvals for any business that you start is called the National Single Window System (NSWS). The key approvals are registration of the company, foreign direct investment etc.

6. FAME-India Scheme

The FAME scheme expanded as Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles in India is a scheme designed to promote the manufacturing and technology for electric and hybrid vehicles in India.

7. Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel (PM MITRA) Parks

This is a program by the central government to promote the textile industry. It aims to reduce logistics costs, attract investments, create jobs and bring about sustainable development by promoting the entire garment industry in a few key locations.

8.  India Industrial Land Bank (IILB)

The IILB supports the setting up of industrial banks in several locations and enables the setting up of nodal points for connectivity, list of available plots etc. All this information is available with just a few clicks on the website.

India already has a broader plan of Make in India and Self-Reliant India happening right now. With these above initiatives it is very much possible that India will soon replace China as a manufacturing giant and an economic powerhouse. Let us now look at the areas of innovation.

Areas of Industrial Innovation in India This Decade

Advanced Manufacturing

AI, 3-D printing, robotics, augmented reality (AR), IoT, and Big Data, all coming together with the power of 5G and possibly even 6G in less than five years means the decade belongs to India. Whether it is to create a digital twin to achieve crucial accuracy in manufacturing applications, the use of AI for predictive maintenance, or the use of IoT to detect the integrity of a product across the supply chain. 

Renewable Energy and Sustainability

India is heavily promoting solar power, with large solar parks being established all over the country. The Green Energy Corridor initiative is also promoting renewable energy by allowing the transmission of renewable energy across cities and states. Wind energy also plays a significant role in the renewable energy mix in India.

Information Technology

The digital revolution has reached the doorstep of almost every industry in India, first more evident in sectors like FinTech, Automotive, and Healthcare but now slowly stepping up to revolutionize other sectors too like Agriculture and Shipbuilding. The kind of precision that can be achieved with a digital platform in these sectors has led to developments like smart farming and AI-led naval architecture.

Automotive Sector

The Automotive sector today has advanced robots on the assembly line, with robotic arms doing things that would previously have been very difficult for a single human to accomplish. There is also more traceability along the supply chain, both of which contribute to higher revenue and profits for automotive companies. Green locomotives are another advancement.

Biotechnology

With advancements in biosensors, it is now possible to treat blood pressure, cholesterol and other similar diseases in a better way through continuous and precise observations. Precision medicine has also contributed to helping treat them, by prescribing medications according to their lifestyle and genetic markers. With the development of RNA-based gene editing, it is also possible to reverse mutations caused by diseases.

Closing Words

With the initiatives suggested by the Government and the advancements in various areas of innovation, India is well on the way to gaining the coveted position of being an industrial creative center of the world. But will we get there soon enough? We need to endeavor and be patient.

Richard Branson’s famous quote comes to memory, “Business opportunities are like buses. There is always another one coming”. This is the way every entrepreneur and investor in India ought to think. And to establish this kind of mindset in the people who are and visit India, the government needs to be persistent in its efforts, establishing industrial zones, supported by innovation in well-established hubs across India and fueled by the talent graduating from schools across India.