With the war situation in Ukraine, India's ambitious five trillion dollar economy dream may take more time to turn into reality, said TV Narendran, MD and CEO, Tata Steel at the tenth edition of the ThinkEdu Conclave organised by The New Indian Express on Wednesday.
In conversation with author and Vice-President, Observer Research Foundation, Gautam Chikermane, Narendran said that while the initial target to achieve this figure was 2025, due to the disruption caused by pandemic and other geo-political causes, it looks difficult to reach the target now in this time frame. He said that it should also be considered that India took eight years to go from one trillion to two trillion economy and another seven years to reach three trillion.
Speaking about the measures Tata Steel took to tide over the pandemic, Narendran said they had strong processes in place to mitigate and respond to risks. "We had a few good quarters as we responded in a very agile way to the pandemic," said Narendran. He said that as the company was already in the middle of digital transformation that helped with the smooth transition from office to work from home. "Even when the Indian demand was tepid, India steel companies, including Tata Steel, were able to export steel to China that helped the sector recover." When China recovered faster than other countries from the pandemic, it was a big opportunity for export. At present, we export about 10 to 15 per cent to South-East Asia, Europe, Middle East, the US and throughout Europe, he said.
Narendran shared how, even now, the company is responding to what is emerging as a major crisis in Europe as it has footprints in Europe as well. "Organisations are agile and respond quickly to crisis. And they look at ways to turn crisis into opportunity, " said Narendran.
Speaking about the effect of the pandemic on vendors, "Our vendors are aligned with us, so we help them. They are growing along with us because we doubled in India in the first ten years and will also double in the next 10 years. We work quite closely and seamlessly with them in all areas, including sustainability and digital transformation. They upgrade with us. I can't say the same about the other MSMEs. With rising input cost, they are struggling in working capital as well," he said.
There has also been supply chain disruption, especially for our customers, Narendran said, "The automotive industry is struggling to come out of the semi-conductor issue. There was a shortage of containers and the container freight rates went up. Russia and Ukraine account for several critical components for industries, including steel. The world is realising that, in a fully integrated environment like today, we are exposed to what happens around the world. It has an impact on you directly or indirectly." In order to overcome this, companies all over the world are also trying to mitigate risks at various levels. "There is also indigenisation or even localisation of the sources to mitigate risks as movement of goods was not even possible between states during the pandemic," he added.
Talking about steps needed to ensure that the Indian manufacturing industry grows at 15 per cent CAGR, Narendran said that they need to bring stability in policy and bring down operation cost of doing business. He also cited that state governments and the Centre should work together on ease of doing business. The industry should also invest in research and development and we should also focus on skill development, he added. He further said that though the government does not create growth, it has a role to play in creating the conditions for growth.
ThinkEdu 2022 is the grand tenth edition of what has consistently been India's biggest education conclave for a decade now. March 8 and 9 will see some stalwarts of India's academic, economic and political ecosystems bring ideas, ideologies and reflections on the past, present and future of India's education system. The sessions will be viewed by a live audience, in addition to the 2,750 registered users on the Conclave's digital space. Over the last nine years, the Conclave has seen some true stalwart thinkers such as former Presidents, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam and Dr Pranab Mukherjee, MPs Jairam Ramesh, Smriti Irani, former CM of Jammu and Kashmir Farooq Abdullah, NITI Aayog's CEO Amitabh Kant and spiritual guide Sadhguru.
