Second ISID National Conference on India’s Industrial Transformation

Supported by the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), the conference discussed opportunities for manufacturing-led economic growth, the policy lessons from India’s development trajectory, and the global experiences of late industrializers under six key themes: (i) Industrial Strategy for a Manufacturing-led transformation; (ii) Harnessing the Potential of Foreign Direct Investment, Trade and Supply Chain Restructuring; (iii) Fostering Labour-Intensive Manufacturing Sectors through MSMEs; (iv) Innovative activity and Digital Industrialization for Competitiveness; (v) Leveraging Green Industrialization Opportunities, and (vi) Corporate Governance for Inclusive and Sustainable Development.

The conference program was structured into an inaugural session, five plenary policy roundtables with senior academics, policy makers, business leaders. It also had 15 competitive sessions covering presentations of nearly 60 technical papers by young researchers, and, concluded with a valedictory session.

Inaugural Session

The conference was inaugurated with a keynote address by Dr V Anantha Nageswaran, Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India. The Inaugural session also featured a special address by Prof Dhananjay Singh, Member-Secretary, ICSSR. Prof Nagesh Kumar made opening remarks at the session which was chaired by Shri S K Misra, Chairman, ISID. ISID’s flagship India Industrial Development Report, 2024-25 was also launched by the dignitaries. The YouTube link to the session is available here.

Technical Sessions

The technical sessions were chaired by senior academics and included two discussants to comment on the papers presented at each session. The session chairs include Prof K L Krishna, formerly DSE, Prof Aditya Bhattacharjea, formerly, DSE, Prof Ananya Ghosh Dastidar, DBE, Delhi University, Prof Dibyendu Maiti, DSE, Prof Sangeeta Bansal, CITD, JNU, Prof Indrani Chakraborty, IEG, Prof Bishwanath Goldar, IEG, Prof Uday Bhanu Sinha, DSE, Prof Jayan J Thomas, IIT Delhi, Prof Ashwini Mahajan, Delhi University, Prof P L Beena, CDS¸ Prof Nitya Nanda, Council for Social Development, Prof Vinish Kathuria, Director, IDS Jaipur, Prof Sunita Raju, IIFT, and Prof Ravi Srivastava, Director, Centre for Employment, Institute for Human Development.

High-Level Policy Roundtable on Industrial Strategy for a Manufacturing-led Transformation

The session was chaired by Prof Deepak Nayyar, former Vice-Chancellor, Delhi University & Member, ISID Board. A Presentation of the India Industrial Development Report 2024-25 was made by Prof Nagesh Kumar, Director, ISID. This was followed by remarks made from distinguished panellists including Mr Ajay Shankar, former Secretary, Industry, Government of India & Member, ISID Board, ISID, Mr Ishtiyaque Ahmed, Senior Adviser, NITI Aayog, and Mr Vinod Sharma, Chairman of the CII National Committee on Electronics Manufacturing and Managing Director of Deki Electronics. The YouTube link to the session is available here.

Policy Roundtable on Harnessing Potentials of FDI, Trade and Supply Chain Restructuring

The session was Chaired by Dr Sudipto Mundle, Chairman, CDS, Trivandrum. The speakers at the panel included Prof C Veeramani, Director, CDS, Trivandrum, Prof Suresh Babu, Director, Madras Institute of Development Studies, Dr Pritam Banerjee, Head, Centre for WTO Studies, IIFT, Dr Ila Patnaik, Chief Economist, Aditya Birla Group, and Mr Pranav Kumar, Vice-President, International Trade Policy & Compliance, Reliance Industries Ltd. The YouTube link to the session is available here.

Policy Roundtable on Green Industrialisation and Corporate Sustainability

The session was chaired by Mr Ajay Shankar, Member, ISID Board, ISID. Distinguished speakers included Dr Arunabha Ghosh, CEO, CEEW, Mr Chandra Bhushan, CEO, I-Forest and Mr Ashish Chaturvedi, Head, Climate Portfolio, UNDP India. The YouTube link to the session is available here.

Policy Roundtable on Leveraging Innovation and Industry 4.0

The session was chaired by Prof Suresh Babu, Director, Madras Institute of Development Studies. The session panellists included Dr Janak Nabar, Head, CTIER, Pune, Prof Vinish Kumar Kathuria, Director, IDS Jaipur, Prof Suma Athreye, Head, Centre for Public Policy, IIT Delhi, Prof Aradhana Aggarwal, Senior Advisor, Trade, Technology and Skills Unit, NCAER, and Ms Shraddha Srikant, UNIDO India. The YouTube link to the session is available here.

Policy Roundtable on Fostering Labour-Intensive Sectors and MSMEs for Industrial Transformation

The session was chaired by Prof T C A Anant, former Chief Statistician, Govt of India & Distinguished Visiting Professor, ISID. The panellists included Prof Ravi Srivastava, Director, Centre for Employment Studies, Institute for Human Development, Mr Anil Bhardwaj, Secretary-General, FISME, Mr Sanjaya Kumar, Former Partner, Deloitte India. The YouTube link to the session is available here.

Valedictory Session

The valedictory session was chaired by Prof T C Anant. The conference summary was presented by Dr Anjali Tandon, Conference Coordinator. Dr Akhilesh Sharma presented the draft Memorandum of Association of the Industrial Development Research Association (IDRA), a new professional body of researchers on industry to be anchored by ISID. The draft was discussed by the participants and finalized including the names of the founding office bearers of the Association. Prof Nagesh Kumar made the closing remarks at the conference followed by the Vote of Thanks presented by Dr Santosh Das, Conference Co-coordinator. The YouTube link to the session is available here.

India’s development aspirations cannot be realised without accelerated industrialisation creating decent job opportunities and fostering inclusive and sustainable development for its citizens. The industrial strategy needs to respond to the changed external context for manufacturing-led growth as well as explore the emerging opportunities in sunrise sectors that underpin the digital revolution and sustainable industrialization. The Second Conference would discuss opportunities for manufacturing-led economic growth, building further on the first conference. It would draw policy lessons from India’s development trajectory and the global experiences of late industrializers.

The key themes that would be addressed at the conference include:

o Industrial Strategy for a Manufacturing-led transformation
o Harnessing the Potential of Foreign Direct Investment, Trade and Supply Chain Restructuring
o Fostering Labour-Intensive Manufacturing Sectors through MSMEs
o Innovative activity and Digital Industrialization for Competitiveness
o Leveraging Green Industrialization Opportunities
o Corporate Governance for Inclusive and Sustainable Development

This call for papers invites unpublished research and policy papers from authors on the relevant themes. The papers will be selected through a peer-review process. Interested authors may send in full papers of 6000-9000 words (inclusive of abstract and reference list) including an abstract of up to 150 words.

Travel grants and accommodation will be provided to select young researchers.

The Institute will consider compiling select papers into an edited volume published by a reputed publisher.

The Conference would also combine keynote addresses by senior experts to set the agenda, competitive presentations, and policy roundtables, which will be arranged by invitation. The policy roundtables would involve senior researchers, policymakers, and industry experts for drawing policy lessons based on insights and analysis.

o Submission of paper extended till 30th September 2024
o Paper acceptance would be communicated latest by 15th October 2024

The full paper should be submitted online using the following link

EPW Advertisement issued: Vol LIX No 29, July 20, 2024, p. 28

For further queries and correspondence, email at [email protected]

First National Conference on Industrial Transformation of India: Building an Inclusive, Sustainable, and Competitive Manufacturing Sector to Realise the 2047 Vision on October 4-6, 2023