This March, industry experts, government leaders, and IIC fellows came together for ‘Make in India: Manufacturing a Success Story’, the second instalment of the IIC Leadership Speaker Series held at the UChicago Center in Delhi, co-hosted by the Center in Delhi and YES Bank. The event featured key players from the Make in India initiative, a national program designed to transform India into a global manufacturing hub. Amitabh Kant, Secretary of the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion and Adil Zainulbhai, Chairman of the Quality Council of India (QCI) participated in a panel moderated by Luis Miranda, MBA’89, Senior Advisor at Morgan Stanley Infrastructure. Launched in September 2014, the Make in India initiative will reduce dependence on foreign imports and catalyze economic growth, job creation, and skills development for Indians in the workforce.

A “TRANSFORMATIONAL INITIATIVE”

In a packed room at the University’s Center in Connaught Place, Mr. Zainulbhai outlined the QCI’s involvement with the Make in India Initiative. He stressed the need to ensure high product quality, saying that Make in India’s success is correlated with the quality of its outputs. The QCI plays an integral role in improving the quality of goods and services. He explained, “We are already helping 6000 SME’s [small and medium-sized enterprises] to bring up the quality standards and be at par with the big corporates. Soon we will be able to help the 35 million SME’s in India in the next few years. Secondly, we are working on putting in place measures and establishing standards in manufacturing both goods and services and also improve the quality of government services to citizens.”

The structural changes that the Make in India initiative seeks to implement are far-reaching, and the scale of this task reflects the enormity of its importance. Secretary Kant explained to the crowd, “We need to improve the way we do business not for the World Bank, but for ourselves.” As Rana Kapoor, Managing Director and CEO of YES Bank, event co-host and IIC partner, stated, “The PM’s historic ‘Make in India’ campaign has been pivotal in steering investments, infrastructure development, employment generation as well as financial inclusion, thereby emerging as one of the most transformational initiatives to augment India’s economic development.”

CONNECTING IIC PROJECTS TO A BROADER LANDSCAPE

The “Make in India” event offered the opportunity to draw connections between IIC projects and larger trends and initiatives in India. The IIC-NSDC team’s work to increase jobs in the textile sector, the IIC-DMICDC team’s work in designing charter cities, and the IIC-CEL team’s work in developing microgrid and metering technologies in rural areas all contribute to the broad goals of Make in India.

The IIC was thrilled to host over 100 attendees for this exciting conversation, the second installment of the Leadership Speaker Series. This series brings together leaders in government and business to discuss innovation at the intersection of the public and private sectors.