Why India? – Page 27

How to thrive in Industry 4.0

Industry 4.0 will power ahead after Covid19, bringing massive change – an Oxford study estimates that 47% of the jobs in the US, 69% of the jobs in India and 77% of the jobs in China will not exist in 25 years – such is the pace of change under Industry 4.0.

How will you thrive? Whether mid-career, just beginning or at university, here are some ways to make yourself adaptable for Industry 4.0:

Show you can continue to learn

We know employers’ value this very highly – their focus is not on what you know through your degree – but is more on what you can learn in future. Prepare for this by being curious, reading and listening widely, entering discussion groups and being able to summarise what you have learned outside of university or since your degree.

Demonstrate wisdom and common sense

For employers, further than what you know is how you think, and the value of wisdom and common sense. The best way to describe the difference between knowledge and wisdom is through the humble tomato – knowledge tells you a tomato is a fruit (not a vegetable) – but wisdom prevents you adding the tomato to a fruit salad. One fast track to wisdom is via mentors and guides, those who can share experience with you at whatever level you currently are.

Gain good collaboration and friendship skills

Industrial 4.0 will make collaboration easy and instant with anyone, anywhere and anytime – and the change will benefit those who have the skills to reach out, make friends, work across the globe and build collaboration. Future corporations and employers will be looking for people who can build collaboration.

Gain cross-border understanding and skills

Already our lives in one country are intersecting with lives of other countries, and Industrial 4.0 will make the globe an even smaller place. Those who have travelled, who have acquired both knowledge and experience of other cultures will be in high demand, simply because almost every job will have global aspects.

Become an outstanding communicator

Traditional “soft skills” training will not prepare students for the fast future – outstanding communication skills for Industrial 4.0 will include rapid pitching, ability to support points in a way which moves others, skills to relate directly and closely with those above and below you – any student sitting back quietly as a “newbie” will get left behind. Old notions of being silent in front of elders or superiors will not apply. Respectful and strong communication skills will rule.

Be a team-based problem solver

More work will be team-based and some of those who succeed will actually present to future employers as a team. Problem solving as a team while at university should lead students to then approach employers as teams – a good standout in the race to gain attention.

Build self-reliance and resilience

As jobs come and go, individuals will need to be able to bounce back and start again, maybe many times in their careers. Where no jobs are forthcoming, graduates will need to create their own or join teams that provide solutions.

Work on these skills so you can thrive during Industry 4.0

Think things will go “back to normal” after Covid 19? Think again as Industry 4.0 will flourish

Think things will “go back to normal” after Covid19? Think again – for the moment it is over, what is called Industrial Revolution 4.0 will power ahead and the changes will be dramatic.

An Oxford study estimates that 47% of the jobs in the US, 69% of the jobs in India and 77% of the jobs in China will not exist in 25 years – such is the pace of change under Industry 4.0.

But most employees, students and many universities will not be ready for the fast-changing world of “Industrial Revolution 4.0” which has begun and will be in full swing by the time most graduate.

What kind of world is Industry 4.0?

The Economist Intelligence Unit 2017 report showed younger generations face a significantly different world in their future working and personal lives. Developments such as machine learning and automation promise further disruption, particularly in the workplace, and many established jobs are likely to vanish as a result.

Whole employment sectors are likely to disappear, with others hopefully created. Students, workers and entire economies will compete across global borders for the best education, jobs and growth; all three will need to be nimble, flexible and dynamic, ready to recognise and respond to emerging trends swiftly.

Industry 4.0 will make huge advances in genomics, artificial intelligence, robotics, materials and manufacturing technologies – with convergence bringing massive rates of change.

The first three industrial revolutions were steam and water-power driving mechanisation in the late 1700’s, electricity from 1870 creating mass production and the electronics and IT revolution of the 1960’s onward. Each “revolution” was led by one change or one sector. Industrial 4.0 could not be more different with at least 10 major innovations converging to create across the board revolutionary change.

The megashifts of Industrial 4.0 include Digitisation, Mobilisation, Screenification, Disintermediation, Transformation, Intelligisation, Automation, Virtualisation, Anticipation and Robotisation.

The changing world of work

As with previous industrial revolutions, new technologies will create new jobs and simultaneously destroy many old ones. The rise of machines, from robots to smart software, threatens to impact not just low-skilled factory and construction workers, but everyone including managers, software engineers, stock traders and taxi drivers.

This is already happening – China’s factories are adding robots faster than they are hiring people. India’s information technology sector is already witnessing jobless growth and total employment may have peaked.

“Humanity will change more in the next 20 years than in the previous 300 years” – Gerd Leonhard “Technology vs Humanity” (Fast Future Publishing 2016).

Good news – India could shape Industrial 4.0

As the world’s largest democracy and the country with one of the highest number of scientists and engineers, India is a key political, social and economic player that could shape the course of the Fourth Industrial Revolution

It is exciting that the Geneva based World Economic Forum has created a Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in India – NITI Aayog will coordinate the partnership on behalf of the government and the work of the centre among multiple ministries.

“The Fourth Industrial Revolution will change how we produce, how we consume, how we communicate and even how we live,” WEF Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab said.

The challenge for universities and students is to enter a world of constant change – where jobs you are being trained for might not be there any more, where you might have to create your own job, or become an entrepreneur while at university, or team up with friends to create an enterprise.

In my next blog – how to thrive in Industry 4.0

Stephen Manallack is the author of four books including “Soft Skills for a Flat World” (Tata McGraw-Hill India 2010). He led a Pilot Study on Improving the Employability of Indian Graduates in his home city of Melbourne, where he has also been President of the Australia India Business Council. A passionate advocate of closer relations with India, his blog is at IntoIndia.blog

India’s water and waste provide big opportunities for Australian firms

Water and waste management and technologies are in high demand in India.

Funding from the Indian Government and the World Bank is driving new projects.

Local players are doing well – the Water & Effluent Treatment Business of L&T Construction has secured three Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) water management orders from the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC).

According to the company’s statement, under the contracts it will be responsible for ‘Design, Build, Operate, Maintain and Transfer of water supply systems.

Austrade has long been a champion of Australian expertise getting into this sector in India. It says: “The Indian industrial water and waste-water market are going through a shift with recycling and reuse, zero liquid discharge, and online effluent quality monitoring systems becoming mandatory across industries.”

Recycling and reuse of water has been made mandatory for industries and housing projects in some states. Industries across power, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, refineries and textiles and other sectors are gearing to meet stringent pollution norms, leading to increased demand for reliable water and wastewater treatment technologies.

Austrade points to four major opportunities in India:

Ganga River Cleaning Project: US$3.5 billion (jointly funded by the World Bank and the Government of India) project to focus on river restoration, building sewage treatment infrastructure across 118 towns, village level waste water management, and rehabilitation of existing sewage treatment plants (STPs).
National Hydrology Project: US$700 Million (jointly funded by the World Bank and the Government of India) project aimed at establishing a hydrologic database and hydrological information system (HIS) for effective water resource planning and management.
Groundwater Aquifer Mapping and Management Project: US$1 billion projects aimed at data acquisition through 21,000 exploratory and observatory borewells to be excavated, preparation of aquifer maps and real time groundwater monitoring.
Smart Cities Initiative: Water is a significant aspect of the smart cities initiative in India. Projects on urban water supply, recycle and reuse of waste water, smart water meters are in pipeline.

South Australian firm Hydro-dis is one of several Aussie firms active in India – it has snared a role in the Cleaning up the Ganges project.

The company, based in Adelaide’s northern suburbs, has developed a new device that provides immediate disinfection, improves the efficiency of metal removal and includes residual chlorine to reduce contamination after treatment.

Post Covid19 could be a good time for a major Aussie push into the water and waste landscape of India – we are good at it, have the expertise and the technology.

Mahatma Gandhi can inspire business and leaders in the post Covid19 world

When Mahatma Gandhi said “Be the change you want to see in the world” he proclaimed one of the great calls to action of all time. You want change? Be that change – start with yourself.

After Covid19 we will all have changed in some way. We need to.

So, today:

Mahatma Gandhi can inspire the post Covid19 world

In 1882 the British rulers of India imposed a Salt Act which banned Indians from collecting or selling salt – as a result, Indians had to buy salt from their British rulers.

In 1930, Mahatma Gandhi developed his concept of SATYAGRAHA – nonviolent resistance. He walked 240 miles to the coast to peacefully break this law.

What was the outcome? India had a pathway to independence – nonviolent resistance. Mahatma Gandhi was now centre stage in the march to Indian independence – the nation had a voice and he became a global figure.

How should this inspire us for post Covid19? Especially those of us who are in business or are budding entrepreneurs?

Instead of complaining how things “should be”, take action

Become a visual symbol of what you want – pictures of Gandhi collecting salt went global

Stick to core principles (for Gandhi, Satyagraha)

Be agile, innovate and create simple, local things the market can do – thousands picked up salt and defied the British

Think of ways to break out of the norm, defy conventions and thereby gain market presence

Will Australia’s vision swing to the Indian Ocean rim after Covid-19?

Australia is torn between two worlds – it has an unchanging alliance with the USA, but it is placed in the middle of a massively changing region, the Indian Ocean. The two can make life uncomfortable.

We are all expecting life to be somehow different after Covid-19. Perhaps one of the differences will be Australia looking more to the west – to the Indian Ocean.

If so, there will be a lot of diplomatic wriggling to be done, with China and the USA looking on.

Why does the Indian Ocean matter so much?

One third of the world’s population (2.5 billion) live around the Indian ocean rim. Their average age is below 30, making it the youngest region on earth.

This ocean is critical to global trade and food and energy security.

There are a dizzying array of global strategic and regional military and security interests.

It is at the crossroads of how the world works. Global trade and economic growth flow in and through it.

But it is also a region where instability and conflict can quickly arise – badly drawn borders create disputes, internal conflicts are rife and competing national interests make for a volatile region.

Why is the Indian Ocean so important for Australia?

First, it’s our neighbourhood.

Second, we are starting from way behind for we have long ignored this region and only recently have been building solid bridges.

Third, one-third of Australia’s coastline borders the Indian Ocean.

Fourth, our future depends on security of lines of trade and the development of both on-shore and off-shore assets – these hold the key to our economy and development.

Fifth, when you look at this Wikipedia map of the “western world” you might wonder why we have not looked to the Indian Ocean before.

Best of both worlds?

Looking west to the Indian Ocean does not mean we have to ignore our powerful friends – China to the north and USA to the east.

Changing our view while keeping our old friends will take diplomatic skill.

And probably it also takes time.

4 tips from India for business and entrepreneurs during the Covid-19 crisis

Pranshu Sikka, CEO, Strategic Planner and Founder of The Pivotals (which styles itself as India’s first “Business Worries Outsourcing” firm) mentions how important it is to do four right things keeping everyone in mind.

Empathize & Strategize- It is important to keep our relationship with existing clients alive. Empathize- they are as badly hit as we are. Consider creating a pipeline of business through digital outreach. Look at the older leads that were on the backburner due to one reason or another.
Offers: Check, if there is merit in diversifying your offering to keep yourself relevant in a post corona world. Think about your stakeholders, yourself, consumer and employees.
No Knee-Jerk Reactions– Businesses are getting affected but don’t get lured into completely diversifying to a new, unrelated stream of business. It is only a matter of time until the situation settles and allows business houses to take more informed calls. Knee-jerk reactions won’t do any business any good.
Morality & Law- As a business don’t cut corners. Don’t do the mistake of doing something not in consonance with morality or law. It is imperative to be on the right side of the law as well as ethics- something which will hold the key to tiding over these difficult times and creating a sustainable value propositions.

India’s pharmaceutical industry shows how we are all connected today

India plans to set up a US$ 1.3 billion fund to boost the manufacture of pharmaceutical ingredients domestically.

How so, since India is already a big pharma player? For example, India supplies about 20% of the world’s generic drugs and is the world’s largest exporter.

Well, in pharma as in everything else in life, all things are connected.

You see, India’s supply chain was disrupted due to the coronavirus pandemic – exposing the country’s dependence on China.

Here’s where “we are all connected” comes in – India is indeed a global leader in pharma but it imports almost 70 per cent of its active pharmaceutical ingredients, the chemicals that make a finished drug work, from China.

Which part of China provides the ingredients? Hubei province, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak has been major source of these ingredients.

The new program consists of spending on infrastructure for drug manufacturing centers and financial incentives of up to 20 per cent of incremental sales value over the next eight years, according to a government statement.

Gandhi lay drastically ill with the Spanish Flu almost 100 years ago

As India fights to contain the Corona Virus (pictured are temperature checks on visitors to the Bombay Stock Exchange) it has been announced that the historic Sabarmati Ashram (a former home of Mahatma Gandhi) will remain closed for visitors from March 19 till March 29 in view of the coronavirus threat, the trust managing the complex said on Wednesday. The ashram receives a large number of visitors everyday.

The closure comes almost 100 years after the great Mahatma Gandhi lay ill in this ashram – with the Spanish Flu (1918).

Sabarmati Ashram is located in the Sabarmati suburb of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, adjoining the Ashram Road, on the banks of the River Sabarmati.

I was there one year ago – a quiet, beautiful and emotional experience coming closer to the great Mahatma.

“All interest in living has ceased”, Mahatma Gandhi, battling a vile flu in 1918, told a confidante.

The highly infectious Spanish flu had swept through the ashram in Gujarat where 48-year-old Gandhi was living, four years after he had returned from South Africa. He rested, stuck to a liquid diet during “this protracted and first long illness” of his life. When news of his illness spread, a local newspaper wrote: “Gandhi’s life does not belong to him – it belongs to India”.

Fortunately for India and the world, Gandhi recovered. However, tragically the Spanish Flu killed between 17 and 18 million Indians.

Our thoughts are with India as it now battles to limit the Corona Virus – so far, all indications are that measures are succeeding.

India’s airlines are really hurting during this Coronavirus pandemic

SpiceJet’s chairman Ajay Singh is spending a lot of time in Delhi in front of civil aviation secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola.

The coronavirus has rattled India’s airlines, a big change from their New Year optimism. Many of them do not have deep pockets so are vulnerable.

In January, the industry was happy with fare discipline, controlled capacity addition, the absence of rival Jet Airways, and a slow but gradual demand recovery.

On Wednesday, IndiGo told the stock market that its earnings would be materially impacted because of the disruption, and domestic bookings had fallen 15%-20%.

The airlines’ anxiety comes from their weak balance sheets.

Those in the know say Singh is lobbying with the government to bring jet fuel under GST – such a reform could bring a windfall in reduced taxation of jet fuel.

Perhaps also on the cards is flexibility in payments to oil companies.

IndiGo has a fleet of 255 planes and money in the bank. The Tata Group backs Vistara and AirAsia India, while the Wadia Group owns Britannia and Bombay Dyeing, runs GoAir.

Government help or not, Indian airline execs are preparing for the worst – and some without money in the bank or big owners. Changes ahead?

India – how Australia’s trade will change and how we should communicate

In the 1990’s, Australia sold India coal and LNG. We also sent over copper, lead and gold, along with unprocessed foods such as chickpeas, lentils, almonds and oils.

According to India veteran Michael Moignard (pictured) of East West Advisers, it was the beginning of our trade relationship with India – so that makes it very recent.

In the 2000’s our trade has shifted – uranium is in there but taking the prize has been education in the form of fee-paying students in Australia. Along with this has been IT and processed foods, with wine and packaged goods finding a market. Finally, Indians discovered Australia as a tourist destination.

So, what will the 2020’s look like?

Michael Moignard was our Senior Trade Commissioner in Delhi for 7 years, so it was good that he gazed into the crystal ball at a recent India seminar at BDO. This is what he saw:

“Sustainability” will become a big theme, covering services and products around water, waste, renewables and smart cities. That’s a big shift.

Education will continue to dominate but with a move to skilling India’s workforce – in India. And IT will blossom into IoT, Ai and more.

Continuing strong will be wine, packaged goods and tourism.

In short – it’s a good picture for Australia. Hope you are ready to participate!

Mike’s advice on how to approach India:

Don’t just think about selling your product and services to India (just sales and profits should not be the only motive)
Work together to create relationships, trust and mutual value (Indians value trust and personal relationships)
Ensure Indian counterparts understand you are there for the long haul…and not just for short-term profits
Don’t give the impression that your India strategy is just a diversification from China (and India is definitely not the next China)

Oh, and his final tip, use the phone much more and the emails much less.