It is Nithyakalyanam at CII (SR). Through November-December CII has been organising a spate of programmes in quick succession, many of these addressed by ministers, senior bureaucrats and business leaders.
At the Annual India Finance Forum meet the subject was business value in the digital world. R Seshasayee (RS), with his rich experience in and contribution to the manufacturing and finance sectors, articulated on how digital technology is becoming a game-changer. He cited a recent study of Cisco that concluded a $ 14 trillion opportunity available in agriculture. He cited instances in Europe where “autonomous vehicles equipped with sensors for seeding, irrigation, pest management and harvesting. In these sensors are stored a lot of bio-engineering details that are used for creative farm techniques for crop growth.” He demolished the general assumption that agriculture was far removed from technology.
With regard to manufacture, RS referred to the new, exciting trending 4.0. “In this machines are intelligent and they communicate with each other. They are able to understand the needs of a customer and incorporate these to the production planning process. Future shop floors will have series of such machines with very few individuals to man these.”
Potential and opportunity to leapfrog
“Digital technology is also impacting the services industry: we have little use for travel agents; most of us book rail/air tickets online. Call centers are automated. Digital transformation is far more real and disruptive,” said RS.
The gestation period of technology to bloom takes an awfully long time, said RS. He cited internet technology (1969) and the world-wide-web taking 30 years and Internet of Things (IoT) 20 years. It is our lack of awareness that had slowed down taking advantage of these. Industry leaders and CFOs should be aware of such developments and learn to adapt to technology. They should look for opportunities ahead and make the most of it, said this eloquent leader.
With lucid examples, Dr. Anantha Nageswaran (AN), Dean, IFMR, Sri City, reasoned why regulation of financial architecture was necessary: “gains in the financial market are private, but losses are public; especially in government-dominated shareholding, it is the taxpayer who gets the first hit. Thus it is imperative when we are moving towards a 10 trillion dollar economy, we should create necessary regulation.” Nageswaran pointed to investors chasing short-term returns and companies taking decisions that attempt to boost stock prices. “In short, immediate gains are given importance and the long-term vision is overlooked. For a robust financial architecture, our finances should follow rather than precede the targeted growth.” He also pointed to the self-correction mechanism for financial markets does not function or malfunctions.
S Mahalingam, Chairman, Economic Policy Sub-Committee, CII-SR, pointed to Tamil Nadu being a consumer economy, has been garnering more funds due to the implementation of GST. Even while the government finances are buoyant, there is need to allocate resources judicially to ensure healthy growth: “in the state budget there is revenue deficit, but surplus on the capital account; that is, the state borrows to meet revenue expenses but is
not spending much for creating capacity for the future.”
The day-long programme threw light on business value in the digital world. (FOC)
