Indian drug makers are worried about raw material shortage – India should produce the materials where there exists unutilised capacity for such products.
Companies should analyse their and their international competitors’ supply chains and see what new places could be occupied, R Mukundan, managing director of Tata Chemicals, said while speaking at a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) conference in the city. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity.”
Mumbai: The outbreak of the novel coronavirus in China, the factory of the world, could be seen as an opportunity to obtain new markets and to relook at risk management for Indian manufacturing, said several industrialists at an event on Thursday.
“While it is difficult to see what the impact (of the virus outbreak) may be, it is important to see where the opportunity may lie,” said R Mukundan, managing director of Tata Chemicals.
Companies should analyse their and their international competitors’ supply chains and see what new places could be occupied, he said while speaking at a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) conference in the city.
“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity.”
One of the things that have been highlighted in the past few weeks is the over-dependence of Indian manufacturing on China, said Jamshyd Godrej, managing director of Godrej and Boyce Mfg.
“We need to make more in India,” he said. “There are so many components that are imported from China only because they have the scale and thus cost advantage.”
The debacle could also be a lesson for companies in assessing risks to their business, some said.
“Risk management in a business has to be done on a more comprehensive basis, and look at not just monetary risks,” said Vikram Kirloskar, vice chairman at Toyota Kirloskar Motors and president of CII.
He recounted how global manufacturing has been impacted in the past due to the concentration of manufacturing of certain components in one place, like when a tsunami hit Japan in 2011.
Ideal time to turn the crisis in to an opportunity.
