CHANDIGARH,03.09.21-CII Punjab organised the 5th edition of Conference on Achieving Excellence in Manufacturing with an objective to discuss the PLI Scheme and address the opportunities & challenges being faced by the Manufacturing sector of the region.

Shri Som Parkash, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Government of India, while addressing during the Inaugural Session said, “The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted the world economy, including India, causing lower economic growth and disruption in production activities.”

He added, “The Government has taken a number of measures to revive economic growth such as a special economic and comprehensive package of Rs 29.87 lakh crore, 34.5% increase in capital expenditure in Union Budget 2021-22 and relief package of Rs 6.29 lakh crore in June 2021.” The PLI Schemes are expected to enable the setting up of a wide supplier base for the global champions established under the scheme. It will help bring scale and size in key sectors and create and nurture global champions. All the units put together would help India to generate massive primary and secondary employment opportunities.

Ms Shruti Singh, Joint Secretary, DPIIT, said, “The objective of the PLI Scheme is to make domestic manufacturing globally competitive and to create global Champions in manufacturing. They have been specifically designed to boost domestic manufacturing in sunrise and strategic sectors, curb cheaper imports and reduce import bills, improve cost competitiveness of domestically manufactured goods, and enhance domestic capacity and exports. PLI Scheme is designed to create complete manufacturing ecosystem in India and make the country an integral part of the global supply chains.

Mr Bhavdeep Sardana, Chairman, CII Punjab State & Sr VP & CEO, Sukhjit Starch & Chemicals Limited, said, “For the Industry to become future-ready in the current & post-pandemic scenario, greater participation from Government and Industry is necessary. CII would be happy to partner the Government in not only exposing the companies to the emerging opportunities but also making them aware of the stringent performance expectations necessary to succeed in them. Additionally, providing stable policies by the Government for the Industry would help support growth.”

Mr Harish Chavan, Past Chairman, CII Punjab State Council & Chief Executive Officer, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd (Swaraj Division), said, “Manufacturing is one industry that can easily harness new-age digital technology to deliver greater supply chain efficiency and productivity using smarter, better, and safer operations methodologies. To move in the direction of manufacturing excellence, the industry must focus on several parameters which contribute to it like productivity of machines, productivity of labour, plant maintenance, training of employees, innovation, etc.”

Mr Deepak Jain, Chairman, CII NR Committee on Manufacturing & Chairman & Managing Director, Lumax Industries Limited, said, “Economy needs a strong manufacturing push. The country has huge untapped potential to become a global manufacturing hub. With the rapid growth of service sector, the pandemic has shown why the nation needs to shift its focus on also boosting the services sector. The government, as part of its economic stimulus packages, has provided a much-needed thrust through the Production-Linked Incentive Schemes (PLIs).

Mr Ambrish Jain, Convenor, CII Punjab Advanced Manufacturing Panel & Managing Director, KGOC Global, said, “we should focus on building domestic capacities to mitigate the impact on import demand and to fulfill domestic demand with indigenous production. Domestic capacity building will not only mitigate the impact of COVID-19 but will also provide an opportunity to increase our presence in global exports particularly towards our top export destinations.”

Mr Amit Thapar, Vice Chairman, CII Punjab State & President, Ganga Acrowools Limited, concluded the session and said, “A long-term perspective and joint approach to addressing many current problems like skilled manpower unavailability, quality power, poor infrastructure, etc is the need of the hour.”