A Year of Turmoil, Disruption, and Reinvention

2020 has been a year of turmoil with industry bearing the brunt of the ramifications ofCovid-19 pandemic. As it ravaged the economy, the industry persevered in its attempt to limp back to normalcy and if we go by the recent reports, it has certainly emerged victorious, especially given the duration and severity of the pandemic’s impact it has faced. India’s industrial output surged for the second straight month in October after six months of contraction. According to data by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, the Index of Industrial Production rose by 3.6 percent in October 2020 over last year. It increased by 0.5 percent in September compared to 0.2 percent estimated earlier.

Initiatives like Make in India and sector specific incentives to various manufacturing companies have contributed to the achievement of the goal of making India a global manufacturing hub. To give a fillip to production, government of India introduced Production-linked Incentive Scheme for large scale electronics manufacturing. Acting as the wind beneath the wings of manufacturing, Make in India initiative has been catapulting India to the higher echelon of hi-tech manufacturing as global giants such as GE, Siemens, HTC, Toshiba, and Boeing have either set up or are in process of setting up manufacturing plants in India, looking to tap into India's market of more than a billion consumers and an increasing purchasing power.

The pandemic also turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the manufacturing sector in the sense that it blurred the line between physical and digital production systems. This year, the industry witnessed an increasing emergence and diffusion of advanced digital production technologies— artificial intelligence, big data analytics, cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT), advanced robotics and additive manufacturing, which together played a significant role in transforming the nature of manufacturing.

In this special year end issue, Industry Outlook presents to you, “Companies of the Year 2020” that have not only managed to survive in the adverse market conditions but in fact swam upstream with their innovative approach towards solving business problems. Through their dedication to quality and delivery, they have created a niche for themselves in their respective industry verticals.

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