Things still need to fall in place

June 30, 2015 3:01 pm

The industry can benefit with the integration of the global best practices and the educated talent pool to take the manufacturing to the next level.
Lalit Sharma, Director, Rigibore India
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 Rigibore produces special tooling, specifically boring bars, for the automotive, aerospace, marine, agricultural and heavy plant industries. Rigibore has been established as a global supplier of special boring bars for over 30 years.
In an interview with OEM Update, Lalit Sharma, Director, Rigibore India shares his views on the steps to be taken to renew our economy and steps to make the ‘Make in India’ initiative a success.
An encouragement for Indian business“Make in India” is an ambitious and a great initiative by the government. India, after now being recognised globally as a competitive manufacturing destination, needs to enter into the next stage of being recognised as the preferred country for supplying high-end technology solutions. In this regards, encouraging the Indian businesses and inviting the global expertise to make in India will certainly help realise the status of being an advanced manufacturing nation. The industry can benefit with the integration of the global best practices and the educated talent pool to take the manufacturing to the next level.
Initiative requires things to be in placeMake In India – the statement only begins to make sense when all the necessary infrastructure and processes are already in place and the manufacturers can concentrate on actually ‘Making’ here. Mr Sharma feels, “For the initiative to be successful, this theme needs to trickle down to every stage of the government machinery and the bureaucracy. The simplicity, quickness and ease with which new companies, subsidiaries can be set up and start functioning will be crucial for the program to achieve success.”
Doing business continues to be a challengeThough the amount of bureaucratic procedures and regulatory requirements have been substantially reduced over the years, setting up businesses, and to get them running quickly, continues to be the single biggest hurdle for small companies when it comes to India, opines Mr Sharma. He adds, “Acquiring resources like land for setting up manufacturing is still a very time consuming and laborious process which is the reason for delayed start-ups. The other major challenge presently is the high interest rate and the cost of capital in the country.”
Loans should get cheaperImproved infrastructure for manufacturing with regards to road connectivity, power and other facilities is crucial to promote domestic manufacturing setting up of new manufacturing and industrial parks spread across the country. “The government with the central bank should work towards a low interest rates regime to kick-start the investments in the manufacturing sector. The initiative must be complemented by easy procedures, documentation and quick approvals to start businesses,” Mr Sharma said.
Rigibore to start “Making in India”Though Rigibore has been a niche player in the Indian market for years, most of its business was handled out of the UK. Rigibore India was set up a couple of years back to have a direct presence in the Indian market and get closer to the customer. Since then, the company has strengthened its Indian office as a sales, design and application engineering centre for Indian customers.
Rigibore plans to set up a design and manufacture facility in Bengaluru in the near future. This will be the second place of manufacturing apart from our main facility in Cornwall, UK. “We are finalising the plans  and in talks with the industrial development authorities to establish this set-up. We intend to get the design facility up and running and hopefully start ‘making in India’ in the near future,” Mr Sharma informed.