INNOVATE OR STAGNATE

Government officials, economists and experts have long stressed that innovation drives industrial growth and global competitiveness.

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Despite this, manufacturing in India has not grown significantly, and exports have only slightly increased.

As per statistics, India produces the second highest number of engineers and there are expectations that within a few years the number would exceed that of China, which happens to be the world leader. But it is a well-known fact that China is way ahead of India in terms of technological expertise, cost effectiveness and quality of products and competes with the US on equal terms. There is a need for serious introspection in the matter.

The past decade is seeing that young entrepreneurs of the country want to take on the world and make inroads into the global arena. India’s economic system is dominated by industry leaders who are giants domestically but have very little presence internationally. Questions arise why these big companies are unable to enter international markets in a big way. While the domestic market is getting large, these companies want to concentrate domestically rather than face international competition. For becoming a global player, the obvious answer lies in emphasising on innovation and use of modern technology to fight competition.

Obviously, they must concentrate on research and come out with innovative products that could be acceptable globally. The need for active collaboration with higher educational institutions has been stressed but very little headway has taken place. What is most important is the need for industry to allocate more funds for Research &Development, which is quite poor compared to global standards.