Overview
- The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship detailed PM SETU, a five-year Rs 60,000-crore plan to create an industry-led skilling architecture through upgraded ITI clusters, centres of excellence and an expanded apprenticeship network.
- NITI Aayog warned that on current trajectories India would miss its 2047 target for manufacturing to reach 25% of GDP by about $5.1 trillion, urging a pivot to advanced manufacturing in engineering, consumer products, life sciences, electronics and chemicals.
- Speakers stressed that roughly 60 million MSMEs employing about 230 million people must move to digitally enabled production for India to strengthen global competitiveness.
- Executives cited frontier tools such as CAD/CAM, 3D printing, smart sensors, blockchain, generative AI and machine vision as already improving design, production, quality and safety across sectors.
- Key hurdles identified were weak shop-floor data foundations and IT/OT connectivity, with calls for incentives to make AI use cases like predictive maintenance, quality, safety and energy efficiency deliver clear ROI for smaller units.