Adoption of Global Standards Imperative for Make in India Success – Said Shri Ansari

Photo Caption: (L to R) – Mr. Vijay Kalantri, Vice Chairman, world trade center Mumbai, Hon’ble Shri M. Hamid Ansari, Vice President of India, Mr. Kamal Morarka, Vice Chairman, world trade center Mumbai

“Global Standards are becoming an increasingly important factor in our way of life, ensuring the safety and quality of products and services, facilitating international trade and improving the environment in which we live in. They govern the design, operation, manufacture, and use of nearly everything that mankind produces. The global technology standard has become the source of a core competitive edge for industrial development. Whoever con¬trols the power of standard making and has its technology as the leading standard, com¬mands the initiative of the market,” said Hon’ble Shri M. Hamid Ansari , Vice President of India , while delivering the 6th Dr. M. Visvesvaraya Memorial Lecture on ‘ Enhancing Indian Productivity: Role of Indian Standards’ organized by the world trade center Mumbai on December 27, 2016.

Indian manufacturing needs to improve in terms of productivity and efficiency to compete in a globalized market. There is no dearth of human resources and technical competence in our country. The Government has rolled out policies and regulations, including the flagship ‘Make in India’, to encourage manufacturing in India. In order to enhance productivity and quality of Indian manufacturing to make it more competitive in international arena , there is need for early adoption of global standards in conjugation with other measures, Hon’ble Shri Ansari emphasized.

According to Hon’be Shri Ansari the reasons for adopting global standards in today’s business are compelling. Standards can be strategic tools for companies to ensure that business operations are efficient, increase productivity and access new markets. Standards help businesses cut costs- through improved systems and processes; Increase customer satisfaction- through improved safety, quality and processes; and allow access to new markets- by ensuring the compatibility of products and services. Integrating of Standards into national regulation ensures that requirements for imports and exports are the same the world over, thereby facilitating the movement of goods, services and technologies from country to country. Standards not only support globalization, they also support the technological progress in developing and emerging markets. They can help businesses all around the world to reach a level playing field and get their share of economic success.

The existence of standardized and harmonized commercial laws provides certainty and predictability for international business. Countries desiring to participate in international business need to be prepared to adopt standards, conventions and model laws that the major trading nations have already implemented as part of their law. The adoption of such uniform laws creates an enabling environment to facilitate international trade and investment, Hon’ble Shri Ansari stressed.

The global standardization process, therefore, needs to become much more transparent so that interested parties can better understand the potential competitive effects of particular standards. The development of complex technol¬ogy standards requires a multi-disciplinary set of skills and experience. Today’s world is heavily dominated by engineering, sci¬ence, and technology issues; and without an enabling eco-system it is not possible to participate in a standardi¬zation process. Given that these technology standards are the essential building blocks by which a nation can develop and maintain a competitive national economy, the challenge is to develop the capacity to not only meet the requirements of international standards but to create and set standards that become global in their influence.

Our country needs to be more active in the global standards setting forums and adopt these standards. Adoption of global standards will improve our productivity and enable Indian companies to access the global export market. Even where we employ country specific standards, we must ensure that these equal or better the existing international ones; otherwise we would only be discouraging innovation, and offering to our domestic market, products and technologies that are inferior. Competition in this field can be brutal if adequate preparation is lacking. Our industry needs to prepare better and in the process expand its global reach, Hon’ble Shri Hamid emphasized.

With that, I would like to thank everyone of you for joining me today and my best wishes to Constellar and FinTech Festival India for today and all their future endeavours.”

On this august occasion, Hon’ble Shri Ansari presented the WTCA Award of Honour to Smt. Rajashree Birla, Chairperson, Aditya Birla Centre for Community Initiatives and Rural Development. The WTCA Award of Honour , instituted by world trade center Mumbai , was conferred on Smt. Birla for creating a difference in the lives of millions of people through her exemplary contribution to social work under Corporate Social Responsibility , both in India and abroad.

Delivering her award acceptance speech, Smt Birla said, “We are fully committed to inclusive growth. Our work is totally in sync with Prime Minister, Shri Modiji’s vision of India” . According to Smt Birla, there is a large skill gap in our country. To address this issue Aditya Birla Centre for Community Initiatives is supplementing the Government’s Skill India Mission and have planned 6 Vocational Education Centres in Raipur, Udaipur, Nagpur, Vadodara, Kanpur and Bhopal. The Raipur and Udaipur centres are already functional. Smt . Birla urged corporate, individuals, academia and the Government to work together to resolve the problems of poverty in the country.

Aditya Birla Centre for Community Initiatives and Rural Development work in 5000 villages across India and selflessly service 7.5 million people.

Earlier, in his welcome address, Mr. Kamal M. Morarka, Chairman, world trade center Mumbai said, “world trade center Mumbai is committed to the vision of Dr. M. Visvesvaraya to promote India’s international trade and support innovation in industry. Trade is very important for India in a liberalized economy. Earlier, the trend was aid, now the trend is trade. Trade is bilateral. world trade center Mumbai received around 60 overseas delegations last year and facilitated business connections. We must grow trade with exchange of information and this would enhance competitiveness”, Mr. Morarka said.

Mr. Ghazi Abu Nahl, Chairman, World Trade Centers Association, New York said “India is a great economy with great people and it has ample growth potential. It is encouraging to note that the network of World Trade Centers is expanding in India. world trade center Mumbai, the pioneer WTC in India is successfully linking Indian business community with the network of 322 World Trade Centers in 89 countries. World Trade Centers Association is committed to provide every support to create more jobs , enhance investment and improve the competitiveness of the Indian economy.

Mr. Vijay Kalantri , Vice Chairman, World Trade Center Mumbai proposed the vote of thanks and exhorted Indian industry to adopt global standards for products and services and thereby improve its competitiveness in the international market.

The event was graced by Shri Vinod Tawde, Hon’ble Minister for School Education, Higher and Technical Education Minority Development & Wakf, Sports & Youth Welfare, Ciltural Affairs and Marathi Bhasha, Government of Maharashtra as Guest of Honour. Also present were Mr. Sharad P. Upasani, Vice Chairman and Capt. Somesh Batra, Vice Chairman, World Trade Center Mumbai.

Photo Caption: (L to R) – Mr. Sharad Upasani, Vice Chairman, world trade center Mumbai, Mr. Vijay Kalantri, Vice Chairman, world trade center Mumbai, Shri Vinod Tawde, Minister for School Education, Sports & Youth Welfare, Higher & Technical Education, Marathi Bhasha, Cultural Affairs, Minorities Development & Wakf, Goverment of Maharashtra, Hon’ble Shri M. Hamid Ansari, Vice President of India, Smt. Rajashree Birla, Chairperson, Aditya Birla Centre for Community Initiatives and Rural Development, Mr. Kamal Morarka, Vice Chairman, world trade center Mumbai, Mr. Ghazi Abu Nahl, Chairman,World Trade Centers Association, New York, Capt. Somesh Batra, Vice Chairman, world trade center Mumbai, Mr. Y. R. Warekar, Executive Director, world trade center Mumbai

Photo Caption: (L to R) – Smt. Rajashree Birla, Chairperson, Aditya Birla Centre for Community Initiatives and Rural Development, Hon’ble Shri M. Hamid Ansari, Vice President of India, Mr. Kamal Morarka, Vice Chairman, World Trade Center Mumbai