Artificial intelligence-led innovation is increasingly reshaping India’s manufacturing sector and will be central to the country’s ambitions of scaling up industrial output and employment.
“Manufacturing has to grow if India has to grow at scale. We have a large pool of talent and human resources, and manufacturing can provide them with gainful employment,” said Rabindra Purohit, Vice President – Legal, Compliance & CS at Deepak Fertilisers And Petrochemicals Corp. Ltd., on the sidelines of the “JSA Boardroom Connect — Pune Edition”.
He added that it was insightful to understand how companies are adopting innovation across manufacturing operations and navigating both opportunities and challenges specific to Pune as an industrial hub.
The closed-door CXO roundtable titled, “Scaling and Enabling India’s Advanced Manufacturing & Industrial Ecosystem: Innovation, Sustainability, and Global Competitiveness,” organised by ETCFO and ETLegalWorld, in association with JSA Advocates & Solicitors, brought together senior leaders from manufacturing, technology, legal and finance domains.
The discussions centred on how India can build a future-ready, resilient and sustainable industrial ecosystem as Industry 5.0, AI-driven manufacturing, automation and electrification reshape global production models. With global supply chains undergoing realignment and geopolitical uncertainties influencing trade and sourcing decisions, participants underscored the need for robust compliance frameworks alongside innovation-led growth.
Strategic sectors such as defence and aerospace were also in focus, where self-reliance, regulatory alignment and global partnerships must move in tandem. Participants noted that companies today must balance efficiency with sustainability, innovation with compliance, and scale with resilience, while meeting evolving ESG and stakeholder expectations.
The Pune edition of the roundtable offered a regional lens into India’s industrial transformation. With its strong base in automotive, engineering and a rapidly evolving EV ecosystem, Pune exemplifies how legacy manufacturing strengths are converging with new-age technologies and policy support.
