Viksit Bharat needs aspirational thinking and coordinated action

As we chart our course towards becoming a developed nation by 2047, Indian industry’s vision of Viksit Bharat demands aspirational thinking and decisive, coordinated actions across government, industry and all other stakeholders.

Our journey towards a $30 trillion economy rests on four transformations: First, making India the next big factory for the world with a robust micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) ecosystem.

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Second, accelerating farm prosperity through modernization. Third, driving sustainability through decarbonization and electric mobility. And fourth, unleashing women-led growth.

The magnitude of our challenges matches the scale of our ambition. In manufacturing, our path is clear. We must achieve self-reliance in 80% of strategic sub-sectors, while expanding our global manufacturing share to 5%.

This demands a comprehensive ecosystem transformation focused on the twin objectives of empowering MSMEs with robust quality, safety and sustainable systems, and creating a large pool of skilled manpower aligned with emerging needs, especially in new fields of digital technology like artificial intelligence.

These transformative ambitions demand coordinated policy action. Indian industry is pushing for localization of printed circuit board assemblies (PCBAs), which are critical to electronic devices today. FICCI has submitted a detailed roadmap to the government for localizing PCBAs in various application areas like consumer electronics, telecom, IT, etc.

Besides, the industry is working with the government to update curriculums at ITIs for digital skills at the shop-floor level. Collaborations have been forged with premier institutes to provide MSME leaders training on scaling up and business continuity. We have also suggested a national framework for setting up industrial parks that go by global norms on sustainable practices.

In agriculture, doubling exports to ₹8 trillion is our aim. To support the achievement of this target, we have initiatives to drive farm mechanization through digital and AI solutions, including a plan to improve water efficiency through micro-irrigation initiatives that involves upskilling rural youth and women entrepreneurs.

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The private sector is also involved in horticulture cluster development and supporting sustainable-farming methods that increase productivity. Besides, we are engaged in linking the private sector with government institutions to establish R&D collaboration networks for agriculture.

The policy support we require includes a ‘One Nation, One Licence’ system to streamline and standardize licencing requirements across states. Additionally, leveraging geospatial analytics and geo-tagged data from both public and private sources will enhance soil health management across India.

For environmental sustainability, we have set ambitious targets for electric vehicle (EV) adoption: over 30% of the 4-wheeler market and more than 80% of all 2-wheelers sold. To achieve this, we are focusing on two critical policy fronts.

First, the industry is asking the government to develop a comprehensive charging infrastructure roadmap; we have shared one that covers capital expenditure requirements and prioritizes key cities and highways. This will help EV penetration across the country. We also plan an awareness campaign to promote EV adoption.

On the industrial decarbonization front, industry advocates enabling Article 6.2/6.4 mechanisms under the Paris Agreement for carbon-capture missions to get underway in line with India’s green hydrogen initiative. Additionally, we are exploring policy mechanisms for small modular reactors to accelerate our energy transition.

For women-led growth, our goals centre on transforming workplace representation and enhancing capabilities and employability. We aim to have women comprise 20% of boards and 30% of leadership roles. Policies could be made to support corporate champions that identify and adopt skilling centres to skill women in manufacturing roles.

Simultaneously, an online platform can be created to connect corporate skilling programmes directly with interested women. Lastly, a public-private partnership is required to create a robust home care ecosystem that will allow more women to take up employment.

Our initial achievements fuel my optimism. At FICCI, we have started over 100 concrete initiatives with over 500 industry CEOs and 30-plus ministries working in concert. In the process, we realized that both the government and industry are keen and determined to work together to achieve goals. Industry is keen to play its role, but may require some enablers.

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That said, the path to Viksit Bharat demands sustained momentum and unwavering commitment. As one of India top business chambers, FICCI stands ready to catalyse this transformation, bridging the government vision’s with industry action.

Foundations laid for the four transformations will accelerate India’s journey towards developed-nation status. Industry’s collective determination and proven ability to execute projects makes me confident that we will achieve and exceed our ambitious goals. Let us seize this moment and opportunity to reshape India’s destiny.

The author is president, FICCI and group chief executive officer as well as managing director, Mahindra Group