India Aims to Become a Trusted Partner in Global Manufacturing Supply Chains

India is working to establish itself as a trusted partner in global supply chains, particularly in manufacturing, design and other emerging capabilities, Union Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday.

“It is no longer just about cost. Trust and cybersecurity are becoming very important. Countries like India are placing themselves as a trusted partner for global value chains,” Vaishnaw said while speaking at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum being held in the city.

He added that technology sovereignty needed to be approached with a broader and more mature perspective. Countries must assess their strategic dependencies, strengthen resilience and identify the products and technologies for which they should rely on external partners.

“Technology is always a global value chain. We want to be deeply embedded in this value chain and be able to add value to those parts of the value chain where we play the best role,” Vaishnaw said.

The Union minister also highlighted the shortage of materials as one of the major challenges in developing a complete manufacturing supply chain, particularly for products across different industries.

India will therefore need to regularly assess its partnerships and collaborate with like-minded countries to develop reliable technology ecosystems, Vaishnaw said.

Chuck Robbins, chair and chief executive officer of Cisco, who shared the panel with Vaishnaw, said the success of technology platforms developed by companies and countries would largely depend on the relationships they maintain with one another and the regions in which they operate.

“I do not think most countries are under the pretence that they could do it all when it comes to artificial intelligence (AI). I think that it is very difficult because by the time you build a piece of technology that comes from our portfolio or someone else’s portfolio, it is probably obsolete,” Robbins added.