JANUARY 202319due to large investments into engineering and scientific education and research institutions. With regards tolow-cost manufacturing which requires high productivity and disciplined workforces India still lags behindas the population is highly unskilled and the cost of labour in India is comparatively higher in comparison to neighbors like Vietnam and Bangladesh. It will be quite a while before we can get absolutely competitive and this can be achieved only by government policy support and infrastructure support.The Indian small and medium manufacturing enterprises have been the backbone of the Indian economy for most of the last three decades, however they are non-competitive on an international platform due to sheer lack of scale.To improve the skills and to make the MSME segment in India competitive, it is important that they start working in consortiums, and have coordination committees, which will be able to optimise and pool the strength of member companies together and develop scale.Consortium working will also help in sharing skills and building capability. Financing will continue to be a major issue as the Indian banking system is aggressively focussed on securities and collateral for small lending. These loans and funding to MSME consortiums should be guaranteed by the government similar to what was done during the COVID revival to help modernise and install more automation. Availability of low cost and speedy access to funds will go a long way in ensuring that MSME's become competitive and also innovative. Automation will help MSMEs become more flexible and manufacture products to the required qualities expected to do business internationally.In addition MSME's working in consortiums will be able to provide holistic solutions rather than partial products making them more competitive and preferred. These industries service a huge market in India. Post COVID demand has increased very aggressively for Indian companies. In the present political climate across the world, India enjoys a very unique geopolitical situation. It is looked at as an alternate manufacturing base to China if not on the same scale asat least an alternative. Ongoing world events have disrupted supply chainsmaking it difficult to get things going smoothly in the short run. The disruption is prevalent across the world. It is important at such times to be transparent and open on the challenges being faced and work towards finding alternative materials and supplies to keep pace with the demand. Overall, the future of Indian manufacturing is highly positive; we have a large workforce where once we develop skills will be highly capable. We have a young population who can work hard and be trained to have the right capability. Indian manufacturing should adapt to produce volumes and setup large factories. We need to have laws and rules which are adaptable to employee large volumes of people and there should be a clear trust between government and industry. From the manufacturing side it has to ensure that there is no wasteful expenditure and raw materialis properly utilised to ensure competitiveness. MSMEs and other industries should automate and be analytical to ensure inventory is optimised and continuous innovation is in place for cost reduction and being competitive. Consortium working of smaller companies to provide total solutions to customers would also go a long way in pooling together entrepreneur resources. To improve the skills and to make the MSME segment in India competitive, it is important that they start working in consortiums, and have coordination committees
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