Energy Security and Advanced Manufacturing Critical for Long-Term Growth: N Chandrasekaran

Energy security, precision manufacturing jobs, and investments in human capital will be essential drivers for sustaining India's long-term economic growth, Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran said on Monday, PTI reported.

Highlighting high-frequency economic indicators, Chandrasekaran pointed to sustained demand expansion across auto sales, credit growth, power, and cement, alongside low non-performing assets in the banking sector.

However, he emphasized that transitioning the workforce away from agriculture to advanced manufacturing will require strategic investments across institutions, infrastructure, and domestic intellectual property.

"Energy security must be ensured because that is going to be fundamental for growth. Second, manufacturing jobs... advanced manufacturing jobs, precision manufacturing jobs...because we need to shift from a low-productivity agricultural workforce to highly-productive manufacturing and modern services with the right investments in all areas," Chandrasekaran said.

Chandrasekaran called on domestic manufacturers to move beyond initial assembly operations toward full-range manufacturing capabilities.

Drawing parallels with quality control models in Germany and Japan, he cited Toyota's approach of leveraging quality standards as a catalyst for innovation and competitive advantage rather than viewing it merely as a final inspection metric.

"It is very important to build the assembly-led growth, and that is going to lead to creating a strong SME segment. From there, moving to end-to-end full product, and building a range of capabilities is going to require investments into R&D, creation of intellectual property, and scaling up the market," Chandrasekaran added.