The conclave, themed “Powering the Future of Manufacturing – Local Touch, Global Impact”, convened policymakers, industry leaders, and technology experts to discuss India’s manufacturing ambition, with a strong focus on eastern India’s role in national industrial growth.

The report underscores the need for integrated policy execution under initiatives like PLI, PM Gati Shakti, Make in India 2.0 and National Manufacturing Mission, while strongly advocating for the emergence of high-potential MSMEs as global “Little Giants” to build value-chain depth and industrial competitiveness. It also positions West Bengal as a strategic eastern manufacturing gateway with strengths in electronics, EV components, food processing, technical textiles, and logistics-driven exports. Emphasizing the core themes of sustainability, digital competitiveness, and value chain execution, Mr. Devroop Dhar, Co-Founder & Managing Director, Primus Partners India, observed, “India’s manufacturing sector contributes about 17% to GDP today, and the national ambition is to raise this to 25%. Our analysis of global benchmarks — from Germany’s Mittelstand to China’s ‘Little Giants’ model — shows that real competitiveness emerges from a strong, innovation-led MSME ecosystem. With global supply chains shifting and the China+1 opportunity expanding, India is at a pivotal moment to develop its own high-potential enterprises that can drive value-chain depth, technology integration, and sustainable industrial growth. The priority now is to rapidly enable these future ‘Little Giants’ through digital transformation, skilling, and targeted ecosystem support as India moves towards a $1 trillion manufacturing economy.” Echoing this, Mr. Avijit Mitra, Chairman, Manufacturing Sub Council – East, ASSOCHAM, added “India’s journey towards Atmanirbhar Bharat and ultimately Viksit Bharat hinges on making manufacturing a central pillar of national growth. The global supply–demand equation is shifting, and India is uniquely positioned at this inflection point to lead the next era of manufacturing.

Promoting local manufacturing is not just an economic imperative but a strategic national priority. With smart, digital and sustainable manufacturing practices, supported by the right skills ecosystem, India has the potential to emerge as a true global leader in the decade ahead.”

The release took place in the presence of dignitaries from the public and private sectors, senior leadership from ASSOCHAM and Primus Partners Pvt. Ltd. and key manufacturing industry stakeholders.

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India’s food processing sector, currently valued between USD 389–535 billion, is projected to cross USD 700 billion by 2030. Despite this rapid growth, farmer incomes have increased by only around 5.2% annually, underscoring the need for a more inclusive approach that strengthens local processing units and community-driven enterprises.

The report emphasizes that beyond food parks and mega investments running into a few hundred crores, there is a need for interventions at the grassroots level — particularly through FPOs and SHGs — that can truly generate sustainable income for farmers and drive equitable growth across India’s agri-value chain.

By adopting simple processing technologies and modest capital investments of ₹10–25 lakh, small-scale processors can achieve a 20–25% uplift in value realization, while also reducing post-harvest losses and creating rural employment. The report highlights successful examples such as Sri Satya Sai Raithu Cooperative in Andhra Pradesh and Goa’s emerging jackfruit value chain, both of which demonstrate the transformative potential of decentralized value addition.

“The next chapter of India’s food processing journey will not be written by mega parks alone but by the millions of grassroots enterprises that add value where food is grown,” said Mr. M. Ramakrishnan, Managing Director, Primus Partners. “With the right market linkages, digital skilling, and blended finance, small-scale processors can become the real engines of inclusive growth—enhancing rural incomes, empowering women, and positioning India as the world’s most inclusive food processing hub.”

The report identifies three strategic priorities to accelerate this shift:

1. Assured Market Access: Connecting FPOs and SHGs with retailers, hotel chains, and digital marketplaces such as ONDC.
2. Blended Capital Deployment: Leveraging multilateral funding from ADB, World Bank, and fintech lenders like Samunnati to improve credit flow.
3. Capacity Building: Establishing district-level Centres of Excellence for hands-on training, digital enablement, and business skill development.

The report was unveiled at the ASSOCHAM Goa Agri Conclave 2025, which brought together policymakers, industry leaders, and entrepreneurs to discuss pathways for inclusive and sustainable growth in India’s food processing ecosystem.

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The report provides an all-inclusive analysis of how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming the manufacturing sector globally and in India, enhancing productivity, operational efficiency, sustainability, and resilience across key industries such as steel, mining, green energy, logistics, and infrastructure.

Key Highlights of the Report:

●        Sectoral transformation: Real-world case studies from Odisha and beyond on how AI is driving predictive maintenance, quality control, smart logistics, and intelligent automation.

●        Odisha at the forefront: The state’s AI-first approach, including the Odisha AI Policy 2025 and the Odisha AI Mission, positions it as a national model for AI integration across core industrial sectors.

●        Global competitiveness through ESG: AI’s role in enabling responsible manufacturing—reducing emissions, optimizing energy use, and ensuring regulatory compliance.

●        Public-private partnerships: A call to strengthen collaboration between government, industry, academia, and startups to foster scalable and ethical AI deployment.

●        Future-ready workforce: Strategic emphasis on AI-integrated skilling and capacity building, particularly in MSME clusters and technical institutions.

The Odisha Manufacturing Conclave 2025 served as the official launch platform for the report, bringing together senior government officials, industry leaders, policy experts, innovators, and academic institutions. The event facilitated high-level dialogue on India’s readiness to embrace AI-led industrial transformation, with Odisha showcased as a key accelerator in driving intelligent, inclusive, and sustainable manufacturing.

AI is not just optimizing manufacturing—it’s redefining it. Globally, AI-driven factories have achieved up to 40% productivity gains and 90% defect detection accuracy. As India embraces Industry 4.0, Odisha stands uniquely positioned with 41.2 MTPA steel capacity, 55% of India’s iron ore output, and a robust digital ecosystem. This report outlines how Odisha can lead India’s AI-led industrial leap, balancing innovation with sustainability and making ‘Made in India’ globally competitive and future-ready,” said Mr. Pankaj Lochan Mohanty, Chairman, Odisha State Development Council, ASSOCHAM.

“Artificial Intelligence is rapidly reshaping global manufacturing, with over 80% of manufacturers already adopting AI across operations. Studies show AI can reduce defects by 66%, cut material costs by 12.5%, and speed up production cycles by 20%. Odisha, with its proactive AI policy and sectoral pilots, is leading from the front. The state’s industrial base, combined with digital readiness, presents a compelling opportunity to create globally competitive, ESG-aligned manufacturing hubs. This report offers a practical roadmap to harness AI for economic growth, sustainability, and resilience—especially for MSMEs, which stand to gain the most from targeted skilling, infrastructure support, and innovation partnerships,” added Mr. Kanishk Maheshwari, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Primus Partners.

As India charts its course through the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Odisha’s proactive policies, sectoral strengths, and digital ambition position it as a frontrunner in shaping the future of smart manufacturing. The insights and recommendations in the report aim to guide stakeholders across the ecosystem in building a resilient, tech-enabled, and globally competitive manufacturing landscape.

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Gurugram, 19 December 2023: Pramerica Life Insurance, one of the fastest growing life insurers in India, has been honoured with two prestigious awards that underscore its commitment to innovation and exceptional customer service. The company won the “AI/ML Market Disruptor of The Year” award in the AWS Enterprise Segment at the prestigious Amazon AI Conclave 2023 held in Bengaluru, and was runner-up for the “Moment of Truth (Claims Experience) – Life Insurance” award at the 15th Global Insurance Summit & Awards by ASSOCHAM in Mumbai.

Delighted with the win, Pankaj Gupta, MD&CEO of Pramerica Life Insurance, said, “We are immensely proud to receive the distinguished awards, that signifies our relentless pursuit of innovation and customer-centric excellence. Technology and superior customer service will continue to be at the forefront of our efforts as part of our commitment towards a superlative customer experience. We thank Amazon Web Services and ASSOCHAM for these wins. These will further inspire our talented teams to keep working on newer ways of enriching customer experience.”

The “AI/ML Disruptor of the Year” award recognizes company’s Machine Learning (ML) underwriting predictive risk scoring model. This advanced model, excels in singling out high-risk customers resulting in faster and more prudent policy issuance. The company also witnessed a substantial decrease in policy downtime, ensuring operational efficiency and customer delight.

The “Moment of Truth (Claims Experience)” award is a testament to company’s dedication towards swift claims settlement and initiatives that prioritize exceptional customer experiences. Making a claim is the moment of truth for the policyholders and the insurance company. Pramerica Life Insurance has been keeping its promise to its customers with a 98.80% Claims Paid Ratio for FY22-23. Through its customer centric initiative – Pratigya Kavach, the brand promises to settle the claims within 48-72 hours. A dedicated Claims Relationship Officer and Claims Helpdesk are also available to assist claimants with timely claim-document submission.

Acknowledging its role as a pioneer in serving the defence community, the company proudly upholds its industry-leading 100% claims guarantee* for this segment.

“Winning these prestigious awards reaffirms our dedication to exceeding customer expectations, but more importantly, it reminds us of the profound responsibility we hold,” says Karthik Chakrapani, Chief Business Officer of Pramerica Life Insurance. “Insurance isn’t just a product; it’s a promise of security. We strive to deliver on that promise through transparency, efficiency, and a passionate commitment to customer well-being. Initiatives like ‘Pratigya Kavach’ and our 100% claims guarantee* for the defence community are expressions of our core values and our respect for the soldiers who protect a billion lives. We’re a company driven by a sense of duty, and these awards are a catalyst to continue pushing the boundaries of customer-centric excellence.”

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Dr Shambhu Jha, General Manager (Mining) & Technical Secretary to the CMD, MCL received the award from Shri Anurag Srivastava, Department of Mines and Minerals, Govt of West Bengal, at the Indian Mining and Minerals Conclave 2023 held in Kolkata.

Congratulating each member of the Team MCL on winning the coveted business excellence award, Shri OP Singh, CMD, MCL said, “The award is a great motivator and we will continue to strive towards ensuring that the country gets a steady supply of coal to run the wheel of the economy.”

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