Industry experts and leaders were of the opinion that India has all the qualities of becoming the leading manufacturing hub in the world and that we just need to respect natural resources and act with responsibility. The MSMEs and SMEs are going to play a big role in it. This emerged at the 3rd edition of Manufacturing and MSME Conclave Industry 5.0 – The Future of Manufacturing & MSMEs, organised by Assocham on Friday.
Talking at the conclave, Sudipta Mukherjee, MD, Texmaco Rail & Engineering Ltd said that Kolkata is No. 1 scientific city in the country, which it achieved in December 2024. This has been achieved as there is maximum scientific research from Kolkata. India ranks 84 in the Geneva-based Nature Index. He said, “Bengal has the resources and the manpower. We just need leadership skills in the industries and political will. There is increased emphasis on infrastructure already,” said Mr Mukherjee. He added that Texmaco is in the process of adding their global capability centre in New Delhi, where they plan to do R&D and be the aggregator of railway components.
Industry 5.0, which is focused on integration of advanced technologies such as AI, AR, big data analytics into processes, will help make the manufacturing industry more “human-centric, sustainable and resilient”. This era promises to be an exciting future of growth, innovation and global competitiveness for MSMEs,” said Sanjeev Rastogi, director, production, Braithwaite & Co.