Webinar – Art of the Possible: Including India in supply chains to achieve scale, agility and innovation
By Kealan Finnegan
12 July: UK India Business Council hosted a webinar to discuss India’s role in global supply chains and how UK companies can benefit from India’s wide-ranging advantages and play a part in India’s rapid growth.
UKIBC Managing Director Kevin McCole, moderating the session, was joined by keynote speakers: Gayathri Sharma, Rolls-Royce and Kevin Holland, Albright International. Rolls-Royce have been in India for decades with a presence in a range of States (including Delhi, Karnataka and Maharashtra); Albright International has more recently begun its India journey and is soon to set up a factory in Pune, Maharashtra.
Throughout the webinar, Gayathri and Kevin described their companies’ experiences in India and shared insights and tips for businesses interested in entering or expanding in the market. Here’s a short summary and you can watch the webinar in full below:
Rolls-Royce first decided to set up in India to maximise India’s digital and engineering opportunities. It did this through various partnership/JVs, though not without required learning throughout the process, as Gayathri explained. Now, though, Rolls-Royce has earned its reputation as a trusted partner in Aerospace & Defence. Gayathri believes collaboration is key to accessing the India market and India’s USP is the extraordinary talent in country to harness into innovative work that has defined the India journey.
For Albright International, India has become part of a risk-mitigation supply chain strategy, after being impressed by India’s engineering capabilities. With earlier investment in Eastern Europe and in China, setting up in India also enables Albright to better service its customers in India and around the world, thanks to its strategic location. Kevin and the Albright team sat with UKIBC experts and laid out their important factors for location, mainly consisting of key suppliers and engineering talent. Pune in Maharashtra fit this and Albright is currently working towards the opening of a factory and hiring a team in the state. Operations Director Kevin argues that any business considering India will benefit hugely from local support.
The UKIBC also launched our Art of the Possible report which shares similar experiences and insights from a range of UK and Indian companies working across the UK-India corridor.
If you are interested in entering the India market or would like to know more about it, get in touch using manufacturing@ukibc.com to see how we can support you.
Watch the webinar recording here:
