SPEAKER SESSION ON EMERGING TRENDS AND OPPORTUNITIES SHIPBUILDING, MEDTECH & AVIATION
The Vizagapatam Chamber of Commerce & Industry (VCCI) organized a “Speaker Session”-possibly the first of its kind and arranged for 3 leading experts to share their thoughts on “Emerging Trends & Opportunities” in their respective fields. The session was held at Hotel Novotel on 18th Nov. Attendees included members of VCCI, CII and AP Chambers.
The speakers were Cmde Hemant Khatri, CMD, Hindustan Shipyard Ltd., (HSL) Dr Jitendra Sharma, MD & Founder CEO, AP Med Tech Zone (AMTZ) and Mr Manomay Rai, CEO, GMR Visakhapatnam International Airport Ltd. (GMR VIAL)In his opening remarks, Mr Sudarsan Swamy, President, VCCI, drew attention to the objectives of VCCI-to assist members in their businesses and also work for the well being of Vizag and its residents. He highlighted the changes taking place in the external scenario and the accompanying opportunities and challenges.
In his presentation, Cmde Khatri traced the history of HSL -from being a loss making unit, till 2016, to its current profitability. He opined that, by 2047, Vizag will become a hub of ship building and repairs and attract several other activities like water sports and tourism. While this will create jobs and wealth for Vizag, there would be several challenges to be overcome, some of which are the dire shortage of skilled manpower, need for local industry to become service providers rather than being mere suppliers of parts, develop expertise to become turnkey contractors, attain scale so as to be eligible to be considered for large orders and lower interest rates. Future plans include resumption of commercial ship building and construction of green vessels. As their order book is over Rs 20,000 crores, there is immense scope for MSMEs to be associated with HSL.
Mr. Rai informed the gathering that GVIAL’s endeavour is to complete the airport by June 2026. The airport will be capable of handling large wide-bodied aircraft. The aviation industry, particularly airports, benefits the economy by impacting multiple sectors like fuel suppliers, logistics, travel, warehousing, hospitality, retail and trade. The industry creates jobs and stimulates tourism & real estate. These sectors will generate revenue and will have multiplier effect on economy by indirectly impacting various other industries.
Mr. Rai spoke about three main emerging trends viz. Sustainability in Airport Operations, Digitalization and Future of Air Travel. Airport operations face challenges of emission not only from its own assets but also from aircrafts, ground support vehicles and others activities carried out by various concessionaires. Airport operators are reducing carbon footprints by incorporating measures like rain water harvesting, a solar plant, waste management facilities and EV charging stations. On Digitalization front, Digiyatra, Self Bag drop and AI based chatbots for resolving passenger queries are some of the measures taken by Airports. The Future of Air Travel envisages the use of drones and Urban Air Mobility, electrical aircrafts and hydrogen powered aircraft and extensive use of AI, machine learning and Internet of Things for various aspects. Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) is one of the most promising and evolving trends in the industry which holds considerable opportunity for industry.
Dr Sharma highlighted the role of units in the AMTZ in supply of critical items during COVID 19 and the continuous efforts to replace expensive imports of various medical devices with less expensive ones-like the glucometer strip and MRI machines- manufactured by them. Opportunities exist for more entrepreneurs to come into AMTZ and some of the more immediate requirements listed include moulds and dies for injection moulding machines, electronic components and sensors and aluminium wheels. He suggested that there should be more focus on material science, which has been neglected so far. Local investors could consider entering into joint ventures with new units as this is a promising field with vast scope for growth.
The session ended with a vote of thanks by Mr Rohit Kancharla, President, Youth Wing of the VCCI.
