The Next Make

India's manufacturing sector is evolving from the Make in India initiative toward a new era of agile, technology-driven, and sustainable growth, as industry leaders discuss strategies to achieve global competitiveness and policy alignment.

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India’s manufacturing sector stands at a crucial inflection point. What began over a decade ago as the Make in India movement has evolved into a larger vision of establishing India as a global manufacturing powerhouse. Marking 11 years of Make in India, the 3rd panel discussion explored agile strategies and policy synergy to drive exponential growth.

Moderated by Sujatha Vishnuraj, Editor, Manufacturing Today, the discussion brought together Shailesh Sharma, Director for Operations, SKF; Rajeev Kaul, MD, Aequs; Munish Peshin, Business Head, Professional Lighting, Havells India Ltd; Vikas Marwah, CEO, Lumax Auto Technologies; Kailash Jadhav, President, Sales (Petrochemicals), Shivtek Spechemi Industries Ltd; and Sudipta Mukherjee, MD, Texmaco Rail & Engineering Ltd.

Organisational and cultural shifts

Sujatha Vishnuraj opened the panel by noting India’s manufacturing sector is at a turning point, with global supply chains shifting, policies aligning, and technologies reshaping competitiveness. She asked what organisational and cultural changes are vital for adopting agile practices beyond the shop floor. Vikas Marwah stressed replacing rigid hierarchies with collaborative, cross-functional systems where expertise guides decisions to drive agility and speed. Rajeev Kaul added that in aerospace and beyond, success requires empowering people across the value chain, breaking functional silos so finance, operations, supply chain, and sales work together, ensuring product delivery becomes a shared achievement.

Balancing efficiency with agility