‘More to TN than ease of business score’

In his keynote address at the CII-Tamil Nadu Manufacturing summit ‘Leveraging Digital Manufacturing’, here on Tuesday, the official said, “They are not true reflection of development.” He exuded confidence that business sentiment in TN is “robust.” Challenges exist but sitting together to resolve them should be the way forward. While the ranking was a wake-up call, it certainly is not a reflection of the state’s record as an investment destination. Unlike some states, Tamil Nadu does not believe in employing short-circuit methods, he said, pointing to the “deemed approvals” mode that some states had taken up. 

He emphatically states that TN had the potential and ability to be recognised as the most preferred manufacturing business-friendly state in the country. The journey of smart manufacturing will  make the industry smarter and this must be seen in the context of TN always being a pioneer in innovative ideas. Defending queries on the low ranking, he said, the state’s inability to submit timely evidence and technical glitches like the unavailability of downloadable formats, were causes for the rank slip. He also pointed out to the presence of redundant parameters in such rankings, which contributed to a misleading depiction of TN on the Ease of Doing Business index. 

He mentioned the example of Ford, which had committed Rs 3,700 crore and Rs 1,300 crore to expand and set up its global research and development facility in the state. Tax-related issues pertaining to Nokia were under discussion with the Central government, as the effort is to arrive at some resolution that will enable early re-opening of the facility. Aerospace, electronics and other sectors too had evinced interest in TN to flag their presence or go ahead with investments. But, the GST issue should be considered. The viability of sales tax sops in a GST regime had to be studied. The state, on its part, is in discussion with the Centre about the Ease of doing Business matter is concerned, Kapur reiterated. 

He also shared his perspectives on the scope of smart technologies that could be leveraged effectively to spur the state’s industrial growth. With technology exponentially growing and benefiting the services sector largely, it is the manufacturing sector that has lagged. Perhaps the basis for launching the ‘Make in India campaign’ is against this backdrop. However, in the case of Tamil Nadu, a long-term vision coupled with industrial policies have proved to be a traditional advantage for the state which is recognised as a manufacturing powerhouse, opines Kapur. 

TN had outshone other states in manufacturing due to various factors such as availability of land, skilled manpower, power, infrastructure and connectivity. These were the reasons behind TN managing to attract mega investments during the last-held Global Investors Meet, which saw 98 MoUs being signed. “Out of these, 68 have hit the ground and projects worth Rs 87,000 crore are being implemented. If TN’s manufacturing industry were to embrace digitisation, you will catapult it into a different league,” Kapur said. 

Given the churn world-over, digitisation had not spared manufacturing, Kapur noted that countries and states have had to use  digitised technologies in various spheres to modify manufacturing processes, internal controls, manpower management and all other areas of business impact. TN cannot be behind in this digital revolution of sorts. The immediate challenges in this regard were the internal process in manufacturing, wherein the emphasis should be on the methodologies to empower workers to embrace and handle new-age technologies. 

The industry secretary highlighted the massive manpower challenge and skill deficits facing industries, which have made skill development missions (national as well as local) timely and relevant. “Now, with digital revolution, this challenge will be much more,” he said, pointing to the immediate need to relook at curriculum and re-calibrate the delivery mechanism so that the man in the shop-floor or factory workers understand the relevance and impact of digitisation. 

Skill deficit is huge as the ability to provide must consider many aspects such as geography and the prevailing ecosystem. But, leveraging technology to develop skills among youth, upskill and reskill by continuous education in their vocation or other areas would certainly augur well for the industries, Kapur opined.