India emerging as most favoured manufacturing destination for sophisticated industries: President of India

New Delhi: The engineering sector of India today is a “robust, multi-level, diversified segment of India’s industry, playing a critical role in driving growth, creating jobs, and boosting exports,” said Smt Droupadi Murmu, Hon’ble President of India while inaugurating the silver jubilee edition of the three-day International Engineering and Technology Fair (IETF), organized by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), in collaboration with Finland Chamber of Commerce in India, NSIC, and government ministries in New Delhi.

“From highly sophisticated areas like defence, aerospace to manufacturing of mobile phones, India has been emerging as the most favoured destination,” added the Hon’ble President. She said that the policies adopted in the recent past have given fillip to an unprecedented inclusive growth and noted that the nation has significant potential to engage with the international market.

The Hon’ble President said that India has been marching ahead steadfastly to achieve its Net Zero emission target by 2070 and added that we are being appreciated world over for our rapid stride in producing clean energy. She said that India’s commitment to clean energy has been driving its green growth, which has been internationally appreciated. She noted that technology is going to change the way we live and added that we should strive to use technology to bring positive social change. The importance of technology in healthcare cannot be overestimated; focus on this area will be a priority in the coming years, she said.

Dr Mahendra Nath Pandey, Hon’ble Minister of Heavy Industries, Government of India said that promoting manufacturing is a priority for the Government and added that transformational schemes like ‘Make in India’ and ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ have been launched. To achieve our growth aspirations, we need to strengthen our technical capabilities and research and development, Dr Pandey added. He said that Smart and Advanced Manufacturing and Rapid Transformation Hubs (SAMARTH Udyog) are creating a conducive environment for digital transformation, growth and skill development in manufacturing Industry and SMEs.

Asserting that the speedy growth of the nation in the recent past has been a result of enabling policies of the Government, the Minister said that work is being done to promote Industry 4.0. Dr Pandey underlined the need for skilling Indian workforce in new technologies like design modelling, product prototype, smart manufacturing, etc. and said that his Ministry is working with sector skill councils to skill more than 70,000 people in the next three years.

Mr R Dinesh, President Designate, CII announced that India has achieved 10 billion square feet of registered green building space, noting that this is the second largest green building footprint in the world. The Indian Green Building Council led by CII has been particularly responsible for taking India to this position and CII is committed to competitiveness and sustainability of Indian industry, he said. Mr Dinesh said that India has a very conducive policy environment for Industry and added that Government initiatives such as Gati Shakti have acted as great enablers for Indian and global Industry to collaborate.

Mr Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII said that IETF presents huge opportunities to foreign companies to partner with the great Indian growth story and is a great platform for global brands and companies to enter India.

Over 400 companies from 19 countries are displaying their latest products and technologies at the IETF. Finland is the focus country at the IETF this year. The silver jubilee edition of IETF includes 3 concurrent shows and 9 focus shows. The latest innovations in Advanced Building Technologies, Artificial Intelligence, Capital Machinery, Digital Gaming, Fluid Power, Factory & Plant Maintenance, Healthcare, Industrial Automation & Robotics, Modern Logistics Solutions, Metal & Metallurgy, and Water & Solid Waste Management are being presented at the event being held during 16-18 February.