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6月16日，由数央网、数央公益联合国内众多财经及科技媒体共同举办的2023国际智造节暨2023国际硬科技峰会在北京举行，活动主题为：科技驱动 智造未来。
本届智造节汇聚800余位来自全球的智能制造有识之士、专家学者、业界精英在这里分享前沿观点，激发思考；超过200家全球智造头部品牌汇聚智造节，现场展示创新成果；130余位重要嘉宾通过线上线下的方式分享前沿观点，线上累计观看人数超到800万人次。
印度工商会联合会执行董事、厦门金砖国家经济文化研究服务中心发起人Atul Dalakoti出席2023国际智造节并演讲。以下为演讲内容：
Good day ladies and gentlemen. It is indeed a great pleasure for me to be part of this program in the beautiful city of Beijing and it is good to be back among friends in this city which has so much history and is a political and economic centre of China.
The current international landscape is a complicated one which is made more difficult by the Ukraine war and China US relationship. The whole idea of Globalization which was promoted by the developed world when it suited their economic interests, seems to be taking a back seat and we see the ugly head of de-globalization coming forward in the name of national interests and strategic requirements.
The BRICS countries have been growing even though the Covid pandemic has slowed the growth substantially, which should be a temporary phase. This has not stopped more countries like Argentina , Iran, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia showing interest in joining the BRICS. At present BRICS represents a total population of 42% of the world with 24% of its GDP and 16% of international trade but these numbers would change quite a bit with new countries joining in and this would indeed increase the importance of BRICS. There is huge potential still in these economies to increase the share of international trade and GDP. With the opening up of countries post Covid we are seeing that international trade and investment will increase drastically.
The BRICS countries are witnessing a DIGITAL TRANFORMATION which is changing the way business is done around the world and is affecting the whole process of MANUFACURING. The technological innovations, industrial transformation and the fast paced development of the digital new economy are no doubt the engines of economic development and change for the whole world and also for the BRICS countries.
Most of the fast paced growth in the new digital economy companies has happened in their “HOME” markets and now is the time for them to look at the market potential internationally , especially in the other BRICS countries. With a lot of protective policies being put into place by the developed countries it is important for countries , especially those which are still developing economies to find the political will to work closely with like-minded countries. There is no doubt in my mind that if the successful new economy companies in the BRICS countries grow in the other BRICS countries these digital companies will do very well.
We need to work on the information infrastructure so that we can try to bridge the digital divide which exists in the BRICS economies. Today the number of people who have access to internet connectivity in these markets has grown substantially. There are possibilities of hardware and software products being designed for the BRICS countries , by the BRICS countries and that would certainly help in creating a much better information infrastructure which in turn would help the traditional manufacturing businesses to do better. A lot of equipment manufacturers have now started production in each of these markets including companies like Huawei , Vivo and Xiaomi and are now considered household names in the BRICS countries. These companies not only bring the best products but also bring new technologies and “intellectual” ways of Manufacturing which is smart and at the same time green as it is environmentally friendly.
The E-Commerce is seeing phenomenal growth all over the world. The number of people who are doing their shopping online , especially after the epidemic, has seen a huge growth and this trend is going to continue. This would also create a possibility of developing huge smart logistic infrastructure which is labor intensive and creates job opportunities for a lot of young people. The BRICS countries should not only look at expanding their own E-Commerce platforms but also invest in other platforms and create partnerships that enable goods to move in different platforms and increase the reach of the manufacturers to more and more households. Mobile Payment is going to be the biggest challenge as we need an integrated system which can work cross border. Also we need to have smart manufacturing so that similar products coming from the same manufacturing line is able to have different features that are required in specific markets where they are to be exported.
I would like to talk about India and China who indeed are important BRICS countries and have a combined population of more than 2.8 billion. China and India are ancient civilizations who have cohabitated in Asia for a long time and have had good neighborly relationship and both of them have made major contributions to the growth of the human civilization. In the 17th and 18th century China and India were not only good neighbors but they contributed more than 75% to the economy of the world.
With the amazing policy of opening up and economic reforms China has in the past 40 years made tremendous progress and today has become the second largest economy. India with a great demographic advantage having such a young population is also going to grow at a good speed and would soon become the third largest economy of the world.
India China trade is around USD 136 billion but has a potential to reach over USD 200 billion very soon. We do need to find ways and means to balance our trade. This would require all of us to take a more progressive attitude of making more bridges of friendship between the two nations and also create solid trade connectivity which in turn would increase the cross border investments in each other’s fast growing economies. India has embarked on Make in India initiative under the leadership of its Prime Minister Narendra Modi and there are a lot of opportunities for Chinese companies to be part of this transformation.
Digital Transformation in changing India where the private sector innovation has helped bring internet-enabled services to millions of consumers and made online usage more accessible. Data costs have plummeted by more than 95 percent since 2013 and fixed-line download speeds quadrupled between 2014 and 2017. As a result, mobile data consumption per user grew by 152 percent annually—more than twice the rates in the United States and China. The pace of growth is helping India’s poorer provinces to narrow the digital gap with wealthier provinces.
Despite these advances, India has plenty of room to grow. Only about 50 percent of the populace has an internet subscription. While many people have digital bank accounts, 90 percent of all retail transactions in India, by volume, are still made with cash. E-commerce revenue is growing by more than 25 to 30 percent per year, yet only 5 percent of trade in India is done online.
India’s core digital sectors accounted for about $170 billion—or 7 percent—of GDP in 2017–18. Based on industry revenue, cost structures, and growth trends, we estimate these sectors could grow significantly faster than the GDP and may account for 10 percent of India’s 2025 GDP.
The rise of trends such as "off-shoring to on-shoring" and "mass manufacturing to mass customization" has pushed traditional companies to transform rapidly and embrace a new technology-driven business model based on smart manufacturing . Robotics and Automation are helping companies in this rapid transformation.
Globally as manufacturing technology continues to advance exponentially, barriers to entry, commercialization and learning are eroding. While large-scale production will always dominate some segments of the value chain, innovative manufacturing models—distributed small-scale local manufacturing, loosely coupled manufacturing ecosystems, and agile manufacturing are arising to take advantage of these new opportunities. The growing popularity of "smart" products has prompted some technology companies to make forays into the manufacturing space, either by developing software to run the products or by producing the products themselves.
The revolution in self driven vehicles is very quick and it requires a great mix of state of the art hardware with cutting edge software and super-fast and reliable connectivity. With the revolution in the mobile connectivity in India today and being the software centre of the world, India is poised to be a market leader in self driven vehicles and I can see a lot of areas where India and China can cooperate together in this field. The EV manufacturers are all smart manufacturers and it is an eye opening experience to go to a EV manufacturing plant and the eco-system around it which allows them to give now mobility experience to the customer and also are part of the great drive for creating a green economy.
Going forward India would require a Digital Agriculture, Digital Retail, Digital Healthcare, Digital Logistics, Digital Mindset of the Businesses, Indian companies will need to invest in building digital capabilities, especially hiring people with the skills needed to start and accelerate a digital transformation.
There is no doubt in my mind that India is in the process of becoming a digitally advanced country as it ushers in a situation where falling cost and rising availability of smartphones and high speed connectivity has given India a fast paced growing base of digital consumers and the pace of digitalization is even become faster than a lot of developed economies. These changes are totally redefining the way manufacturing has been done in the past and even in traditional manufacturing industry are becoming smarter in how they go about with their manufacturing and try to decrease their carbon imprint.
I very strongly feel that talent is the most scarce resource in the world today and we need to find ways and means where we can create an eco-system where we can get the talents from all over the world to be able to work together on opportunities to create never seen before technological advances that happen at time frames that are only a fraction of what it used to take in the past. This is what is the new challenge. Talent like investments flows towards the area where there are opportunities and it also requires an eco-system which allows talent to work and thrive in their careers and at the same time have a great environment for their spouses and for raising a family. All of us who are working in the area of economic development cannot ignore this. Countries like China and India and other BRICS countries need to create an atmosphere which can attract talent. Without the availability of the right talent we would find it impossible to create a smart manufacturing infrastructure which is a must for the New Economy transformation which is taking place around the world. This can only be made possible if we have a talent pool from all countries which is able to freely move within these countries and be able to help meet the immense human resource requirements of the fast growing new economy. Ladies and gentlemen we need to quickly work on this so that we can create a dynamic eco system for the new economy companies to grow at a rapid pace, being multilocational and having a workforce which is truly diverse to give an impetus to the New Economy companies who would then create Unicorns that we all can be proud of. India is the third largest ecosystem for start-ups after US and China. Industries like Auto, Fintech, Cleantech, Agritech , Artificial Intelligence and Climate Tech are projected to secure high valuations in 2023
If we truly believe in Globalization and the Shared Prosperity we are obliged to work together to create this eco-system for our future generations. We really need to look at what are the requirements of the market we want to enter and what sort of value add we can give to the existing stakeholders and can we work together with the businesses and the government to create value for the markets that we are entering and in the process create financial and economic benefits for us.
Ladies and gentlemen , I am convinced that the area of cooperation between BRICS countries is in the new economy space and we should work together to make this happen. India can play an important part in this and so can China and the other BRICS countries.
My wish is that India and China and all the BRICS countries should become the champions of globalization and work together to create a new world order which is based on the principles of equity and transparency.
Let us focus on BRICS countries and not only develop our economic and investment relationship and develop Smart Manufacturing , but also work hard to make the people to people friendship our goal.
