BENGALURU: India is lagging behind in the global robotics race and cannot afford to be left behind in terms of manufacturing, opine experts. Speaking at the ‘Building Robotics Ecosystem for the Developing World: Challenges and Opportunities’ at the Bengaluru Tech Summit 2022, Volvo Group India president Kamal Bali said that India is currently in its sweet spot to benefit majorly in the manufacturing sector.
“We have stability in terms of policy framework, a huge startup ecosystem and a rebalancing of global value chain coming in over the last three years. India stands to gain the most. Manufacturing is also to get a leg-up and robotics is a big part of this. While manufacturing has only been 17% of our GDP, it may go up to 25% in the next five years. Robotics and automation is going to play a big role in this,” he said.
UAVIO Labs Co-Founder, CEO and Chief Scientist Dr Arjun Jain also said that though India has a lot to offer in terms of talent, challenges still exist. “A benefit for robotics startups in India is that we have access to good talent. We must focus more on component building... this is a major issue that needs to change in the country. Policy has improved a lot... they are very forward looking. However, there remain many challenges, especially in terms of high import duties,” he said.
India also has a bigger gap to fill in, said Ajay Gopalswamy, DiFACTO Robotics and Automation CEO. “In 2021, India was at 5,000 robots manufactured. We may pat ourselves on the back, but the fact is that we are only tenth globally, as compared to China who are manufacturing around 2,70,000 robots. There is a huge gap....,” he added.