The Hindu Business Line : `Manufacturing council strategy paper soon'

Mr V. Krishnamurthy (2nd from right), Chairman, National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council (NMCC), releasing a report on ` A vision for the Tamil Nadu automotive industry' at a meet organised by the CII in Chennai on Thursday. Others in the picture are (from left) Mr B. Santhanam, Vice-Chairman, CII-TN; Mr Subodh K Bhargava, Past President, CII; Mr R. Seshasayee, Managing Director, Ashok Leyland Ltd; and Mr T.T. Ashok, Chairman, CII-TN. — Bijoy Ghosh

Chennai , March 24

THE National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council will be coming out with a "comprehensive strategy for the growth of manufacturing sector" in two weeks' time, the council's Chairman, Dr V. Krishnamurthy, said on Thursday.

Speaking at a conference on `Tamil Nadu as a manufacturing hub', organised here by the Confederation of Indian Industry - Tamil Nadu State Council, Dr Krishnamurthy said the strategy paper would focus on job creation.

He said that while eight million job seekers were being added to the employment market each year, employment creation was only about half the number.

Responding to some points raised by previous speakers, Dr Krishnamurthy termed `labour reforms' as "very difficult thing".

He noted that the employers had not been able to give the trade unions the confidence that the interests of employees would be taken care of.

On the other hand, trade unions also seemed to be more interested in protecting the interests of the existing employees, rather than creating opportunities for the entire labour force.

Labour reforms, Dr Krishnamurthy said, were a sensitive issue and the government was "working on it."

Observing that only manufacturing sector could provide jobs on the scale required, Dr Krishnamurthy stressed that skills development was important and hinted at the need to take a relook at college curriculum.

He wanted the manufacturing sector to take note of the point that "nobody wants to join the manufacturing industries".

He said that the salary levels in manufacturing were considerably lower than in other areas, such as BPOs.

"You must treat these people (manufacturing workforce) with a certain amount of dignity," Dr Krishnamurthy told members of the CII.

He further noted that `manufacturing' was not just making a product, but covered the entire gamut of activities from understanding customers' needs to making a product that was affordable to them.

Dr Krishnamurthy released a report titled "A vision for the Tamil Nadu auto industry," brought out by CII-TN.

Delivering the keynote address, Mr R. Seshasayee, Managing Director, Ashok Leyland, noted that unlike few years ago, there was now a good deal of confidence in the Indian manufacturing sector in its ability to compete globally.

"What has changed over the last few years? Nothing, except the mind," said Mr Seshasayee, adding that India still had all the disabilities.

He likened Indian manufacturing sector to Mike Nemesvary, a former winter Olympics champion, who became a quadriplegic after an accident, and was yet able to drive around the world in a custom-built car, using whatever movements his body was capable of. (Mr Seshasayee had received Mike Nemesvary in Chennai a few years ago.)

Mr Seshasayee called for discovering an `Indian way' of manufacturing, (like the `Toyota way'), to deal with problems such as `shorter product life cycles'.

Stressing on the need for proper education, he welcomed the idea of IIT, Madras, setting up a satellite institute for design and said that the IIT should be requested to dedicate the institute to `automotive design'.

In his address, Mr Subodh Bhargava, past President, CII, pointed out that the Indian manufacturing sector was not using information technology to its full potential.

He wanted the sector to be prepared for `customised manufacture', or, making a product as per customer's requirements.

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