The Hindu Business Line : `Growth in manufacturing, farm must be on equal footing'

MMA CONVENTION: (From left) Dr S. S. Badrinath, Chairman, Sankara Nethralaya; Mr S. Gopal, Deputy Managing Director, Sanmar Speciality Chemicals Ltd and Chairman, Convention Committee; Mr C.K. Ranganathan, CMD, Cavinkare Pvt Ltd and President, MMA; and Mr V. Krishnamurthy, Chairman, National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council, releasing the special edition of MMA's monthly at the Association's annual convention in Chennai on Friday. — Bijoy Ghosh

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Chennai Feb. 16 Infrastructure, power in particular, is the greatest bottleneck that India is experiencing today. "If we could only generate enough power at a reasonable cost, our GDP would have been at least one percentage point more than what it is now," said Dr V. Krishnamurthy, Chairman, National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council.

Delivering the inaugural address of the MMA Annual Convention 2007 — `Global leadership: India can do it,' Dr Krishnamurthy said to be a global leader India has to make sure that its growth is balanced. "The growth in agriculture and manufacturing industry must be on an equal footing." Only that can put India on the real growth path, he emphasised.

The country has all the key ingredients, such as natural resources and population, to become a global leader. But it lacks balanced growth. India is shining in select pockets. "There are pockets of excellence, there are pockets of well-being, at the same time there a lot of people with no proper livelihood," he said.

Making a point that IT is one area that has to be leveraged to its fullest potential, he said, "No doubt, the IT sector brought us a tremendous amount of brand equity from across the world, but they must focus more on India as well. The IT penetration here is less than 2 to 3 per cent," adding in a lighter vein, that it is evident from the fact that most of these IT companies are earning 96 to 98 per cent of their revenues from exports.

Abysmally low level of investment in R&D in organisations is also a daunting factor. "It's not a matter of pride to say I own an enterprise without owning the technology behind that," said Dr Krishnamurthy.

Skilled manpower

Talking on poor availability of skilled manpower and the need for good investment in facilities to train manpower, he said, "A large number of students coming out of universities are not employable. They must be properly trained and we need to have proper facilities to develop necessary skills among them."

Inadequate production is another problem India faces, which is one of the major factors that cause inflation. The country's share of global trade is less than 1 per cent and it should be at least 10 per cent.

"To achieve that, a tremendous amount of investment is called for," he pointed out.

However, he said, India is now moving away from a stage where sloppiness is synonymous with nationalism, towards a stage where "quality culture permeates our industry."

The country has the necessary managerial skills to take it forward. Recalling the days when he was made the chief of BHEL, he said down from the then Prime Minister everybody thought that Indian managers did not have the necessary skills to run big organisations. "They wanted me to split BHEL into several small units to be efficient. But, I had confidence in our managerial skills and what happened after that is proof enough," he said.

"We are now better poised for growth. This is the most exciting phase of India's development and we can take advantage of it and apply ourselves diligently and grow," he said

Earlier, welcoming the delegates and the gathering, Mr C.K. Ranganathan, President MMA and CMD of CavinKare Pvt Ltd, said India is witnessing an exponential growth. From around 3.5 per cent growth in 50s and 60s to the present 9.2 per cent is really a great achievement. However, there are certain obstacles that require to be addressed. "Infrastructure is the key area where we need to focus more. Foreign funds are hesitant to invest in India more because they see a kind of uncertainty in earnings," he said, adding, "but the situation is improving."

Mr Gopal, Chairman, Convention Committee and Deputy Managing Director of Sanmar Speciality Chemicals, said the idea of the MMA convention is to take India Inc to the next level and grow further.