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As India advances towards becoming a global manufacturing powerhouse, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming the entire industrial value chain, enabling manufacturers to enhance productivity and strengthen global competitiveness.
Speaking on the theme 'AI-Powered Manufacturing: Accelerating India's Journey to a Global Manufacturing Hub,' Dilip Sawhney, Chairman, CII National Committee on Smart Manufacturing and Managing Director, Rockwell Automation India, highlighted that from smart factories and predictive maintenance to AI-driven quality inspection, supply chain optimisation, and real-time production analytics, AI is allowing reduced costs and improved precision across the sector. Sawhney noted the need to explore how AI adoption across sectors and MSMEs is driving measurable gains in throughput, reduced downtime, improved yield, and smarter decision-making. He emphasised the necessity to contemplate the enabling ecosystem required to scale AI, including digital infrastructure, data governance, workforce skilling, R&D collaboration, and policy alignment with national initiatives such as 'Make in India' and the 'IndiaAI Mission,' positioning India as a global benchmark for intelligent and sustainable manufacturing. Addressing the human element of this technological shift, Sanjeev Sehgal, Founder and Managing Director of Sparsh CCTV, noted that workers currently considered unskilled are vital to the transition. "When unskilled people are going to use these systems, they will not lose their jobs if they are trained and skilled in time," Sehgal stated. Highlighting the importance of ground-level expertise, he added, "They are the people who are giving us the exact data. He knows how much pressure needs to put on." Sehgal further stressed the necessity of an inclusive approach to innovation, asserting that "Everybody should be enabled to coexist with the emerging technologies." This vision of inclusive innovation will be officially inaugurated this evening by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is set to open the India AI Impact Expo 2026. Being held from February 16-20 alongside the India AI Impact Summit at Bharat Mandapam, the Expo serves as a national demonstration of AI in action, where policy meets practice, innovation meets scale, and technology meets the everyday citizen. Spread across 10 arenas covering more than 70,000 square metres, the Expo brings together global technology firms, startups, academia, research institutions, Union Ministries, State Governments, and international partners. The event features 13 country pavilions showcasing international collaboration from nations including Australia, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Serbia, Estonia, Tajikistan, and Africa. The Expo hosts over 300 curated exhibition pavilions and live demonstrations, organised into three thematic chakras: People, Planet, and Progress. In addition, it features over 600 high-potential startups, many of which are building globally relevant and population-scale solutions already deployed in real-world settings. Expected to attract over 2.5 lakh visitors, including international delegates, the event aims to foster new partnerships and business opportunities within the global AI ecosystem. Over 500 sessions will be organised, featuring more than 3,250 visionary speakers and panel members, focused on acknowledging the transformative impact of AI across sectors and deliberating on future actions to ensure that Artificial Intelligence benefits every global citizen. (ANI)
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