The global firms are moving their manufacturing operations to India as there is no other country in the world outside China that can match the scale that India has, said the Deloitte-South Asia CEO
A significant portion of manufacturing, especially where scale is required, is moving from China to India, said Romal Shetty, the CEO of Deloitte-South Asia. He said the global firms are moving their manufacturing operations to India as there is no other country in the world outside China that can match the scale that India has.
“As I talk to clients across, one of the things is China. And therefore, everybody wants to have China plus one strategy to ensure that they do sort of move. As part of that, not necessarily everything is moving to India, but we see significant portions moving to India, especially where scale is required,” Shetty said in an exclusive interview with Business Today TV’s Managing Editor Siddharth Zarabi.
Shetty said India has ‘scale’ and ‘smart manufacturing’. The combination of software, the combination of electronics, and the combination of manufacturing coming closer together is a very sweet spot for India, he said. “So that ability now to manufacture at scale efficiently, more digitally, in smart factories is also becoming a big element.”
The top business executive said some Japanese, US, and European companies are moving manufacturing operations into India. “So, that is a shift that is happening.”
Speaking on what was working for India, Shetty said the production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes had helped the country in attracting foreign firms. But he listed two other things that he thought were in favour of India. “We have domestic consumption, which is always a good thing. And we’re not only dependent on an export market. So that helps.”
When asked whether he agreed to the China-plus-one strategy, Shetty responded in affirmative and said: “If there’s one country that is capable, that is the only country that is capable as India.” He said other countries can do it as well but they can do it “at small levels”.
