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Andhra Pradesh is fully leveraging emerging technologies: Nara Lokesh
Feb 25, 2018

Stating that happiness was now a “measurable index for governance”, Mr Nara Lokesh, Minister of IT, Panchayati Raj and Rural Development, Government of Andhra Pradesh, said his government’s goal was to make the state “the number one in happiness.” He was speaking in a session titled ‘Future sectors: Can India lead Industry 4.0?’ on the second day of the of the CII Partnership Summit 2018 being organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in association with the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, and the State Government of Andhra Pradesh in Visakhapatnam..

Mr Lokesh said that his state was leveraging the full ambit of emerging technologies in the Industry 4.0 revolution which was directly linked to fulfilling the aspirations of the “bottom of the pyramid” in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

“Right from use of drones to map and geo-tag quality of roads in remote areas to water management, we are using emerging technologies to the hilt”, the minister said. “In spite of two consecutive years of drought, when water deficit was at 24%, the agricultural growth was at over 20%. This is largely due to the use of latest water management technologies,” he added.

He said the goal of the state was to become a “one-stop platform for ideas and innovations from India and abroad”.

Ms Rakiya Eddarhem, Secretary of State, Ministry of Industry, Investment, Trade and Digital of Economy, Morocco, said that her country could be a congenial destination for Indian investments as it was “reform-minded, stable country”. She appreciated the Indian government’s initiatives and partnerships with the countries in Africa and said that Morocco could be the bridgehead for Indian investments into the continent.

Mr Mahesh Prabhu, VP & Global Head of Innovation, ITC Infotech India Limited, said that India had the potential to be a “true leader” in the Industry 4.0 revolution provided Indian businesses overcome their “fear of failure” and make rapid leads in the reskilling of the youth. He said the upside for India is that it has “good engineers” with “good cross-functional skills”.

“We had our doubts about the quality of Indian labour, especially in the gold industry, when we first came to India. But the fact is that some of the innovations and solutions that we have created in India are now being used in some of the other facilities we have globally. Now, solutions are being created in India,”  said Mr Marwan Shakarchi, Chairman, MKS Pamp Group, Switzerland.

Ms Ayuna Badmaeva, Deputy CEO and GM – International Business, Digital Television, a VGTRK and Rostelecom company said that India’s challenge lies in “dramatically growing its small and medium-scale businesses.” Noting that this effort requires resources, she suggested that the emerging countries should “build a network of resources among themselves.”

Mr Ian MaCarthy, Director-International Business Festival, Liverpool, UK said that the UK’s forthcoming new industrial strategy and India’s Make in India thrust had “huge synergies” and “it was important to bring the two entities to leverage those complementarities.”

“India has no option but to lead Industry 4.0” and the journey has already begun, stated Mr Akhil Bansal, Deputy CEO, KPMG India. He identified India’s strength in technology and the demographic dividend leading to easy adoption of new technologies as catalysts for advanced manufacturing in India. He added that while India was good at software and analytics, it has to get the hardware part of the Industry 4.0 right.

The session was moderated by Mr Pranjal Sharma, Author, Kranti Nation: India and the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Earlier, three MoUs were signed in the presence of the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Mr Chandrababu Naidu, by the Andhra Pradesh government. First, with India Gas Solutions Ltd for oil exploration in the state. Second, with Reliance Jio for producing cellphones in Tirupati. Third, with the Reliance group for launching an Institute of Excellence at the new capital of Amaravati. Mr Naidu announced that the Reliance is investing Rs 50,000 crore in the state providing employment to over 25,000 citizens.

Vishakhapatnam

February 25, 2018

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