National Conference Towards Industrial Transformation of India
National Conference Towards Industrial Transformation of India:
Opportunities and Policy Lessons for Building an Inclusive, Sustainable, and Competitive Manufacturing Sector to Realize the 2047 Vision
4-6 October 2023
@ISID Campus, New Delhi-110070
Concept Note
The Institute for Studies in Industrial Development (ISID), in collaboration with the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), will organize a National Conference on India’s Industrial Transformation in commemoration of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, a very momentous occasion celebrating 75 years of India’s Independence and to chart out its development trajectory for the coming decades.
India’s ambitious vision of a developed economy with a GDP of US$ 30 trillion by 2047 cannot be realized without accelerated industrialization creating decent job opportunities for India’s youthful population and fostering inclusive and sustainable prosperity for all the citizens. Hence, the government’s initiative to boost the manufacturing sector through different strategic interventions including production-linked incentives (PLI) is timely. The industrial strategy also needs to respond to not only the changed external context for manufacturing-led growth that has turned less benign in the aftermath of the retreat of globalization and rising protectionism but also the emerging opportunities in sunrise sectors that underpin the digital revolution and sustainable industrialization.
In that context, the National Conference would discuss the relevance and the opportunities for fostering manufacturing-led economic growth over the coming decades to help shape the 2047 Vision. It would also draw policy lessons from India’s own development journey of the past 75 years in the manufacturing sector as well as from experiences of successful industrializers in harnessing the potential manufacturing sector in the changed global context.
Key Themes
Industrialisation in today’s world has to be embedded into leveraging new technology, often termed as Industry 4.0 which will be disruptively altering the paradigm of production as it happened in previous industrial revolutions. It involves huge relocation of human resources from old industries to new ones particularly offering immense potential to start-ups and MSMEs as scale advantages subside due to emerging technology networks and platforms. But most importantly a vision of twenty-first century industrialisation needs to be built on the agenda of decarbonising growth through cleaner transformation of our traditional industries together with exploring possibilities of green industries and green jobs. In this larger scope of industrial transformation this conference invites research papers on the following themes:
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- Industrial Strategy in the changed global context: the external context for industrialization has changed dramatically with the slowdown of the global economy, trade wars, rising protectionism, collapse of multilateral trade negotiations, and other factors leading to the retreat of globalization. India might also benefit from the trends of China+1 and friend-shoring in the supply chain diversification strategies of global corporations. What are the key opportunities and policy lessons for manufacturing-led development in India in the post-Pandemic era of a new normal of subdued growth of the world economy and trade?
- Foreign direct investment (FDI) and India’s integration with GVCs: FDI can assist the manufacturing-led growth with the asset bundles of MNCs. India’s FDI policy has been liberalized greatly over the years. However, it is not clear whether it has helped in enhancing the quality of FDI inflows, especially in terms of giving access to pioneering industries and new technologies helping in the substitution of imported goods and for integration with GVCs for export-platform production. Policy lessons to enhance quality and magnitudes of FDI inflows.
- Enhancing the role of MSMEs and Start-Ups in Industrial Transformation: MSMEs form the backbones of the Indian economy but have suffered a lot during the pandemic, with a serious liquidity crisis, and loss of demand, among other challenges. What can be done to make MSMEs more sustainable and resilient? India has emerged as the third largest Start-Ups ecosystem globally. While some Startups are highly successful trailblazers while others struggle to survive. Key lessons for success and how the ecosystem can be made more prudent and resilient?
- Geography of industrialization and balanced regional development: Industrialization could help in curbing or accentuating regional disparities depending upon the location of manufacturing. What are the policy lessons from past experiences in the geography of industry including through industrial corridors, SEZ, and other infrastructure, to foster a more balanced regional development?
- Innovative activity and Leveraging Industry 4.0 for Competitiveness: Factors and policies that may stimulate innovative activity to help build the technological capability of Indian firms would be discussed. India’s potential of leveraging the new technological revolution sometimes called the Digital Revolution or the Industrial Revolution (IR) 4.0 for manufacturing development; the potential of new industries that underpin the digital revolution including the ecosystem for the manufacture of electronics, semiconductors, and telecom equipment.
- Sustainability and Green Industrialization: In the context of India’s net zero commitments and shrinking carbon space, a transition to cleaner and greener patterns of industrialization is the need of the hour. Harnessing the potential of Green Hydrogen and Circular Economy is clearly important for a cleaner transition of traditional industries while exploiting the new green industries such as electric mobility, batteries, storage solutions, solar PV panels, and wind turbines among others. How can the Indian industry be nudged to adopt sustainability or ESG practices including through new disclosure norms?
Contributions/Papers/Presentations
The Conference would combine keynote addresses by senior experts to set the agenda, competitive presentations, and policy roundtables. ISID would issue a call for papers to attract papers from younger researchers which will be selected through a peer-review process. Policy Roundtables would involve senior researchers, policymakers, and industry experts for drawing policy lessons based on insights and analysis.
ISID will compile select papers into an edited volume published by a reputed publisher.
Important dates:
- o Abstract (500 words): 10th June 2023
- o Full Papers due by: 31st July 2023
- o Announcing Selected Papers: 1st September 2023
EPW Advertisement issued: Vol LVIII No 19, 13 May 2023, p. 22
The abstracts should be submitted online using the following link
For further queries and correspondence, pls email us at [email protected]
