“Digitalizing systems and creating specialized tech platforms help companies improve data management, which streamlines compliance requirements. This is especially crucial in India, where compliance burdens can often be a deterring factor for international businesses.” BN Shukla, Managing Director, Jabil in India
India’s journey towards self-reliance is closely tied to its vision of becoming a manufacturing powerhouse. Beyond global expansion, the untapped potential lies in its vast domestic market, where meeting demand requires bolstering self-reliance in manufacturing through localized sourcing.
With global geopolitical uncertainties reshaping trade dynamics, companies are increasingly aware of the risks in sourcing from just one region and are open to exploring new destinations to meet their evolving needs.
Localized supply chains can increase a company’s resiliency by reducing their dependency on imports, accelerating turnaround for manufacturers, and allowing greater control over quality and innovation. These help centre trust and reliability while providing improved visibility, intelligence, and analytics for businesses seeking to establish themselves in new geographies. If businesses operating in India prioritize self-reliance across the supply chain, it can create the foundational infrastructure for sustainable economic growth.
By investing in local ecosystems, empowering Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), and strengthening partnerships, companies doing business in India can build supply chain sovereignty towards manufacturing excellence.
Improving Digitalization for Agile Sourcing
The national goal of becoming a US$ 5 trillion economy depends on modernizing the manufacturing sector at every level, particularly through digital transformation. Policy incentives, such as the PLI scheme and Digital India initiatives, have already laid the groundwork for digitalization, helping integrate the entire supply chain ecosystem and providing end-to-end visibility crucial for multi-national businesses.
Digitalizing systems and creating specialized tech platforms help companies improve data management, which streamlines compliance requirements. This is especially crucial in India, where compliance burdens can often be a deterring factor for international businesses. Secondly, while setting up digital infrastructure is initially an investment, in the long run, it reduces labour costs and the expense of maintaining outdated technologies.
Tech platforms for supply chain intelligence and management enable businesses to stay agile in rapidly changing markets. For example, Jabil’s vCommand focuses not only on visibility and analytics, but also on easy collaboration between stakeholders to improve efficiency. Beyond fostering innovation, such platforms streamline operations through decision modelling, simulations, and milestone visibility. AI-driven data collection and synthesis strengthen procurement capabilities. Automated tasks and processes also free up manhours for more strategic work, boosting productivity.
“Fostering market intelligence that is continuously refined and easily accessible requires the proper digital systems to be in place across the supply chain, helping companies leverage vast amounts of data to improve decision-making, maintain continuity in the event of a crisis, and pre-empt potential risks and bottlenecks.”
Sharpening Market Intelligence for Resilient Production
Digital and AI tools help build better market intelligence by identifying trends and market fluctuations, potential delays, shifts in demand patterns, lead time projections, and more. These actionable insights, both granular and ecosystem-level, give businesses a key competitive edge both domestically and internationally.
Fostering market intelligence that is continuously refined and easily accessible requires the proper digital systems to be in place across the supply chain, helping companies leverage vast amounts of data to improve decision-making, maintain continuity in the event of a crisis, and pre-empt potential risks and bottlenecks. Moreover, it reduces waste through the utilization of safety stock and close tracking of ageing inventory.
Significantly, as regulators and organizations seek to deepen sustainability measures and enhance their reporting, digitalization is a vital process that enables a comprehensive view of operations. It helps organizations identify suppliers that are best aligned to their vision and values, particularly in terms of environmental impact.
Investing in an Atmanirbhar Bharat
Improving digitalization isn’t just about the availability of infrastructure and tools. For manufacturers in India, the crucial complement to digitalization is investing in training the workforce to adopt and effectively use digital tools.
Proper tech training and upskilling the workforce to confidently and effectively adopt AI tools can create a future-ready workforce that can easily adapt to emerging technologies. This ensures that productivity gains are reflected in both day-to-day operations and high-level strategy.
A data-driven approach to market intelligence and operational excellence is the path toward a self-reliant India. Increasing investment into tailored digital tools and comprehensive training for employees are twin needs for a more resilient supply chain. As India seeks to compete with global manufacturing giants, its success will depend on manufacturers’ ability to adopt and leverage digital tools at both national and local levels.
The author is BN Shukla, Managing Director, Jabil in India
