Proclaiming slogans like "Make in India" is one thing and actually encouraging entrepreneures for setting up manufacturing units to add up to net GDP is a different thing and seems a difficult task for this Modi government... Let us see, time only can tell

1. Challenges before Indian Industry:
against the backdrop of ‘Make-In-India’ campaign.
================================================ -- Dr. M. S. Patel
============
In September last year, government launched the ‘Make-In-India’ campaign revealing the
intention to strengthen domestic manufacturing base. Prosperity of any nation, whether in terms of
GDP growth or expressed simply as per capita income, is directly proportional to a nation’s skill to
convert available raw materials into marketable finished goods with high efficiency. For this, it requires
a strong manufacturing base with peripheral support of basic utilities, energy, skilled manpower,
infrastructure, and so on. So the campaign as such is a welcome step, but government’s capacity and
boldness to translate this into ground realities with reference to bureaucratic policies will decide its
fate over a time to come. Some indications are already available on its dedicated website:
http://www.makeinindia.com/ .
Debashis Basu, in his article: ‘Make in India - beyond the slogan', describes three major fronts
needing urgent attention - Human resource, Real Estate and Capital. The fourth one he forgets to
mention, even more important than these three, is uninterrupted supply of energy. This of course
opens up a vast area of unlimited opportunities, as we shall see later on. [ http://www.business-
standard.com/article/opinion/debashis-basu-make-in-india-beyond-the-slogan-114121400577_1.html
].
Shared here are a few thoughts with intention to indicate some bright opportunities disguised
under formidable challenges. My purpose will be served even if only a thought process is invoked in
some young entrepreneurs, sawing seeds for a new venture into entirely a non-traditional direction.
Keeping Customer in Focus:
After successful commercialization and widespread popularity of Edison’s lamp, electric
lighting became so cheap, it was said then that only a fool or an extravagant rich could afford to burn
candles for lighting. But at the beginning of his career, the same genius inventor, had suffered an
unexpected failure of his automatic vote-tally system (a kind of EVM, Electronic Voting Machine of
those days), forcing him to take a tough decision, as Nathan Furr writes in Forbes magazine: “Edison
reframed all his future efforts with one simple phrase, ‘I never want to build something that nobody
wants to buy’ ”. Rather than letting the failure destroy him, Edison recovered and discovered two very
important principles that made him one of the most famous serial innovators of all time. Both these
principles focus on “..... What Customers Will Buy” [Read more of this interesting article:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanfurr/2011/06/09/how-failure-taught-edison-to-repeatedly-innovate/
So, customer is the clue and market is the driving force for any industry. First question to be
answered here is why a customer should buy my product, when he has other multiple choices from
domestic as well as international suppliers? Consistent quality, reliability, cost-effectiveness and
unbroken supply chain are but a few of the factors that play a major role in deciding the customer
base. Necessity is the mother of invention. To maintain the competitive edge and to continually
enhance customer satisfaction, one has to resort to a strong R&D base. It is the realm of research
and innovation that provides tailor-made solutions specific to each individual need of the product
portfolio.

2. Fortunately for India, what was considered a big challenge once upon a time, and now slowly
turning into a boon in disguise - the ‘population explosion’, provides us with a rapidly expanding
captive consumer base - the younger generation of a widely varied age groups and diversified social
strata. Study their lifestyle, growing requirements, hobbies and spending habits; and get access to
whole new market avenues.
Overcoming the Mindset:
Whether it is government, manufacturer or a customer, one of the greatest obstacles on the
path of innovation and non-conventional enterprise is mindset. So this is the first and foremost factor
to overcome. How creatively we view a challenge and how effectively we convert it into opportunity
makes all the difference. It is said, ‘Attitude is everything’. Outcome of any pursuit depends a lot more
on how you look at it. Konosuke Matshusita (Creator of National and Panasonic brands) writes: When
you change your point of view, your results change too.
I still remember the remarks made by a veteran industrialist, who turned a staunch naturalist
and a very good social reformer in his later life. Few years back, while delivering a talk before BDMA
members in GNFC auditorium at Bharuch, he said: “Never see carbon dioxide as a pollutant, it is a
valuable raw material. Put all your efforts only to convert it into a value-added product. And even if
you do not want to do anything yourself, just plant a tree, and let the soil and the sunlight do rest of
the work”. These golden words are from Mr. Kantisen C. Shroff, an entrepreneur who set up Excel
Industries from scratch.
Let us now examine some opportunities emanating from his suggestion.
One is the development of a commercially viable technology for carbon dioxide capture and its
storage for ultimate value added use. Please see this review article:
[ http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032114005450 ], there exists a scope.
Another opportunity, for India being at a geographical advantage, is agroforestry for fuel-wood.
I remember to have read, many years back, a small article in Gujarati magazine ‘Navneet-Samarpan’,
about one gentleman near Valsad, who brought the cultivation of Calliandra tree (Calliandra
calothyrsus) to India and also freely distributed its seeds to interested farmers. This is a versatile, fast
growing tree offering cheap and ideal firewood.
[ http://www.fao.org/ag/agp/agpc/doc/publicat/gutt-shel/x5556e09.htm ]. Cultivation of
Calliandra coupled with wood gasification is a promising source of good quality fuel gas.
There is no shortage of successful designs for wood gasifiers. Wood Gasification is a very
clean way to make biogas in mere minutes. In fact the wood is just a storage battery for solar energy.
Wood gas is a perfect complement to solar thermal and solar electric power because you can tap into
the energy day or night and even during the winter [ http://www.woodgasifierplans.com/faq/ ]. Please
see the readily available literature on this subject: (a)
http://www.miniwoodgas.com/wood%20gasification.pdf ], (b) Wood gasification: A presentation by
Renewable Energy Training Centre of Morrisville State University, [
http://retc.morrisville.edu/resources.aspx , http://people.morrisville.edu/~hofmeypv/ ] Photosynthesis,
carried out by green vegetation without any noise or propaganda is by far the most efficient and the
greenest method of converting solar energy, and sequestrating carbon dioxide. Solar heaters and
photovoltaics come next, as they have some indirect carbon footprints.

3. No need to limit the cultivation to Calliandra only, our country has so many other varieties of
such trees qualifying for fuel wood. It is a question of exploring and exploiting.
This leads to a very basic fact that agricultural land, plenty of sunlight and sufficient river water
are the three most fundamental natural resources that any country can dream about. The
underground stock of precious minerals including coal and oil is an added advantage. And India is
blessed with this raw wealth - rich untapped resources waiting to be harnessed for a better tomorrow.
Are we utilizing our fortunes in the most profitable way? Or India is yet a ‘Poor Rich country, as Mr. P.
Chidambaram talked at the ‘Second annual Harish C. Mahindra Endowed Lecture’ at the Harvard
Business School in Massachusetts, USA, 2007. [http://www.mahindra.com/news-room/press-
release/1294210847 ] He said: “....... India is rich because of its natural resources; it is poor because it
is unable to exploit those resources efficiently and profitably........ “. Let us change this as soon as
possible.
Small is Beautiful:
To be successful, is it necessary to start with a multi mega scale enterprise? Not so, always.
Economy of scale does play a role and one has to think about global markets and giant capacities for
most of the bulk chemicals, but this should not deter or daunt an innovative entrepreneur who has a
non-conventional idea. Speciality chemicals catering to very specific needs can be produced with
small scale start up, which can expand later on in line with increasing demand. Think about a small
electrochemical cell for production of hydrogen peroxide:
http://www.electrochemsci.org/papers/vol8/80303084.pdf . Electro-organic synthesis is a branch still
having potential to provide novel routes for making important chemicals.
The menace of plastic carry bags has engulfed almost entire nation. These shopping bags
usually end up as trash bags for disposing garbage and kitchen waste, eaten by road side domestic
animals - mostly cows and buffaloes. This plastic accumulates in their system leading to fatality. Other
environmental impacts are also reported. [http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/14901/1/ The-Effects-
of-Plastic-Bags-on-Environment.html ] A biodegradable paper-pulp based packing material is highly
needed which can be easily digested by animals. Service agencies engaged in handling and recycling
of segregated materials like plastic, metal, glass etc. have good scope. Fortunately some work has
already started in this direction. [ http://www.dimensiontoday.com/latest-technology-news-
updates/fighting-the-plastic-bag-menace-a-story-of-courage-and-action-09619.html ]
Core Competency:
Our IT and Pharma sectors have a good potential; at least pharma companies have shown
signs of becoming global leaders. The knowledge bank in the field of synthetic organic chemistry has
paid rich dividends in the area of healthcare. Combined with our ancient methods of Ayurveda and
herbal remedies, this avenue further offers a new set of opportunities.
Export of Finished Goods Vs. Raw Materials:
India is the largest producer and exporter of castor oil, a versatile raw material and precursor
of sebacic acid which is used globally as a natural ingredient in cosmetics. Expanding cultivation of
castor and promoting domestic processing of castor oil for making its derivatives can generate better

4. revenues compared to export of raw oil. Diversified applications of this material are well-known, and
what is mentioned here is an example only.
Skilled Manpower:
All that degree holder stuff produced in money-minting self-finance institutes is not worthy of
industrial deployment. Much of on-the-job training is needed to be given before it can be put to any
useful task. This also poses a challenge as well as an opportunity for Industrial Training Institutes. Still
greater challenge may be to find suitable employment for them even after acquiring skills, because
more and more automation and robotics will be replacing human labor wherever it will be possible.
Setting Priorities:
Aiming high and neglecting basic needs, is mismanagement in other words. Government
being the regulatory authority, has to set priorities first, otherwise any campaign can become an
empty slogan. With respect to ‘make in India’ campaign, ‘The Hindu’ wrote about this paradox:
“Mastering rocket science, failing basics - India has mastered atomic, space and missile development,
but continues to import basic defense equipment. ‘Make in India’ needs a course correction within the
larger realm of technology development”. More details can be accessed here:
[http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/prime-minister-narendra-modis-call-for-make-in-india-
mastering-rocket-science-failing-basics/article7400004.ece]
Ray of Hope:
We began this topic referring to Nathan Furr in Forbes magazine on Edison. Let me conclude
also, with the same writer’s last note in the same article:
“Innovators Change the World—Keep Changing It”, - he writes further, “As a final note, let me
raise my glass to all of you who innovate—as entrepreneurs, as managers, as individuals, as families,
or whoever you are. Innovators change the world, in small ways and big ways. I love to see you do it
and if I can help, great. If I just get to see you do it and be inspired, wonderful. Whether you find a
better way to improve your life or a way to improve the lives of many, keep trying. You will change
your life and mine for the better. I can’t wait to see it. If you don’t think you are an entrepreneur or an
innovator, I’ll put my money down that you are and can be.”
[http://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanfurr/2011/06/09/how-failure-taught-edison-to-repeatedly-
innovate/].
So, have faith in yourself and go ahead, make something, you can win.
==========================================================
Author is a freelance writer and Management Consultant on QC & EMS at Vadodara; and can be reached at
dr.msp2@gmail.com .
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