Q. Ms. Rinku you have rich experience in building the Aerospace and Defence verticals for your company.

Keeping in mind, the focus of our current central government regime in promoting “AatmaNirbharBharat Abhiyan” How do you the assess the future opportunities for Indian Private sectors in the defence fields and how will Bharat benefit overall from it?

Currently, India imports a large no of parts and defense fleets from other countries. Under the “AatmaNirbharBharat Abhiyan” and the Modi Government attracting many countries to set up their manufacturing base in India with many attractive policies and schemes, many private indigenous companies in India will get multiple opportunities to expand their manufacturing and business operations on a large scale. This is a golden opportunity for the country to become self reliant and grow at multi levels. India will have opportunities from Aero Giants like Boeing, Safran, Lockheed Martin, Rafael, etc to make their parts and supply worldwide. Indian companies will also get a lot of aid and support from the Government to expand their operations. Manpower available in plenty and cheap in India will result in a win - win situation for everyone involved and engaged.

Q. You are closely associated to the cause of climate change and therefore sustainability.

How can we involve the younger generation in it?

These are some of the practises I follow and would like to share the same for the younger generation to follow and adopt:

• Reduce/Recycle Paper & Plastic and Recycle More Often
• Save Resources like water, food, electricity and use sustainable resources
• Buy More Sustainable & Eco Friendly Products
• Buying local products and produce is a great way to minimize carbon footprint
• Decrease Meat & Dairy Consumption – practise veganism
• Only Buy What You Need – practise minimalism
• Start Your Own Initiative or Volunteer With Environmental Organizations

Q. Economic empowerment and digital marketing.

How has the latter helped the former, in your opinion?

Working for a MSME company, I would like to highlight the growth in our segment. MSMEs adopting digital marketing are helping India recover faster from the recent Covid-19 pandemic, which accounts for a significant chunk of GDP, employment and growth.

Some key DM Strategies adopted are: 

• Deploy campaigns quickly from home, collaborate across teams and keep marketers engaged with apps.
• Listen to your customers, use real-time data to better understand their current situation and needs
• Accelerate digital channel adoptions, deliver the right message, to the right person, at the right time
• View unified marketing performance and make real-time decisions to minimise the negative impact.

About 29 per cent of the MSEs surveyed were using digital sales channels such as online aggregators / marketplaces, social media, and mobile marketing before the pandemic struck. That number has shot up to 53 per cent among small enterprises and 47 per cent among micro enterprises as on date. This underlines the fact that increasing digitalisation enlarges the footprint of MSEs, helping them tap newer markets and improving their access to credit.

Modi government’s ambitious plan of positioning India as the world’s next factory.

The government has launched a very progressive production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for high-end smartphones, and other sectors like pharmaceuticals, automobiles and auto components, telecom and networking products, advanced chemistry cell batteries, textile, food products, solar modules, white goods, and specialty steelto set up and/or expand their manufacturing footprint in the country.

The stated goal of the government is to attract MNCs from the US, Europe, Japan, South Korea and elsewhere, who are looking at de-risking their global supply chains from over-reliance on China, to invest in India.

Digital ecosystem to grow

The quick and seamless adoption of technology by Indian MSMEs will go a long way in convincing these foreign investors that they can create the right eco-system in India to keep their operations going at optimum levels.

Encouragingly, several manufacturing sectors have shown the way in adopting digital channels to push sales during these trying times. Among them, gems & jewellery and textiles have shown the most significant jumps.

MSMEs are key to India’s economic fortunes

Most international agencies and several noted economists have projected India to grow at 9-12 per cent in the coming financial year. The growth of MSMEs, which is a critical component of India’s manufacturing base, will play a critical role in this economic expansion.