Post COVID, India will emerge as a strong manufacturing powerhouse: Softbank Manoj Kohli

Globally, all economies are struggling to cope with the pandemic caused by SARS‑CoV‑2. So is the Indian economy! The revival looks bleak for many countries. But for India, there is significant hope and optimism that the country is expected to emerge as the most powerful economy after this COVID-19 lockdown-induced conditions that have hampered and destructed the normal livelihood.

Crushing all those negative temperaments about India’s post-COVID-19 economic revival, Manoj Kohli, Country Head-Softbank India in an exclusive webinar hosted by Pradeep Gupta, CMD, CyberMedia Group on the topic – From Survival to Revival-Turning Business Challenges into Meaningful Change – shares an optimistic rainbow glimpse into India’s future once the country bravely overcomes this pandemic.

Manufacturing in India to get a facelift

Manoj Kohli believes that post this COVID-19, a new era will be born for India that is bright with several new offers knocking on the doors of the already existing India’s manufacturing prowess. It is expected that several international companies will look for alternative destinations to set shop in emerging economy countries like India. The market also opens for opportunities to sell innovative products that suit India's increased domestic consumption nature.

The most compelling factor is that India being a domestic and consumption-led economy will become a destination-favorite among international players to either sell in the Indian market or to establish manufacturing plants in the country.

As consumer behavior is bound to change post the COVID-19 scenario, entrepreneurs would be urged to create new products that see equal demand from both online and offline channels. Digitization across industries will ignite a stronger economy with leaders adopting new business practices. The new buying power will create new prospective jobs in both rural and urban India. But, the leaders of most organizations are going to approach business with a frugal mentality, conserving cash, and spends.

Green signal to businesses in Green & Orange Zone areas soon

Kohli trusts that life will attain normalcy in about 4-5 weeks from now in areas that are not intensively affected by the Coronavirus. Green and orange zones will be opened up for normal business but with social distancing as a general practice. The Government will make the revival happen in a phased manner in such zones and with the red zone areas, Kohli says that the Government will come up with effective bounce back plans. Many interim schemes that revive the economy will be released by the Government, especially incentivizing in-house manufacturing proposals. Red Zones, however, will take a longer time to revive, but the troubles might be all done in 6 months from now, says Kohli.

Industries/sectors that are going to witness an upsurge post COVID-19

According to Kohli, the major industries and sectors that are going to gain an upward traction post the COVID-19 lockdown in 6 months would be:

1. Agriculture
2. E-Learning and education
3. Telecommunications
4. Digital Banking
5. Automotive and its allied manufacturing industries
6. Renewable energy
7. SMEs/startups
8. Healthcare
9. IT/ITeS

Interestingly, Kohli projects that a combination of the automobile industry with the power industry will explore the possibilities of alternative sources of energy that will lead to e-vehicles gaining prominence in the next few years to come.

Healthcare, globally an underfunded industry, is also going to see tremendous traction as a global awakening on the need for better healthcare infrastructure will be in demand. Telehealth, telemedicine, and healthcare delivery through video conferencing channels will be the future.

Artificial Intelligence will be one technology that will rule the digital world and solutions built on this technology is expected to find tremendous success. The future will depend on several such AI-based products that have their use in healthcare, banking, cybersecurity, and telecommunications.

Industries/sectors that are going to witness a down surge post COVID-19

Although the global travel and hospitality industries are going to take a big blow, Kohli trusts that the Indian Government will work on a revival package that will steer the industries to see some gain in the months to come.

He also believes that startups struggling now will not suffer too long as the Government will soon work on moratorium plans and schemes that will help young startup entrepreneurs to fall back on track and strengthen the startup ecosystem.