The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Focus on boosting productivity: CII chief

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 07, 2007
ePaper


<SCRIPT language='JavaScript1.1' SRC="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/N4322.hinduonline/B2155503.3;abr=!ie;sz=468x60;ord=[timestamp]?"> </SCRIPT> <NOSCRIPT> <A HREF="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/N4322.hinduonline/B2155503.3;abr=!ie4;abr=!ie5;sz=468x60;ord=[timestamp]?"> <IMG SRC="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/N4322.hinduonline/B2155503.3;abr=!ie4;abr=!ie5;sz=468x60;ord=[timestamp]?" BORDER=0 WIDTH=468 HEIGHT=60 ALT="Click Here"></A> </NOSCRIPT>

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Focus on boosting productivity: CII chief

Staff Reporter

Says it fuels economic growth and generates employment

STRESS ON IMPARTING SKILLS: (From left): Yoshitaka Murase, senior counsellor of the Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance; Kinjirou Nakano, adviser, TPM Club India; R. Seshasayee, president, CII and V. Narasimhan, chairman, TPM Club India, at the 7th TPM national conference in Chennai on Tuesday. — Photo: S. S. Kumar

CHENNAI: "We must get those in power to understand that productivity drives economic growth," R. Seshasayee, managing director of Ashok Leyland and president of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), observed here on Tuesday.

Addressing the seventh National Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) conference, Mr. Seshasayee said the Centre must accept that "productivity does not mean loss of jobs. It is the opposite." It would aid competitiveness that would drive growth, which, in turn, would generate employment.

Imparting necessary skills for productivity must become a national priority, Mr. Seshasayee said. The focus should be on agriculture and the SSI sector.

He pointed out that though over 70 per cent of the nation's population were engaged in agriculture and other allied activities, they contributed less than 20 per cent of the GDP.

"We need more effort to ensure that those who are trailing behind are brought up."

Mr. Seshasayee warned that while "it is tempting to believe that the Indian industry has arrived on the global scene, the world is actually saying that you have the potential to arrive."

Other emerging economies like Vietnam would make it impossible for the Indian industry to sustain success merely on the basis of a low cost advantage, he said and sought "significant infusion of innovation in our industries... products for the bottom of the pyramid."

Welcoming increasing Indian interest in the TPM system that had originated in Japan, Yoshitaka Murase, senior counsellor of the Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance, announced that the CII had been approved as the assessment agency for TPM awards in India.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu