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Columbus Mabika and Tsitsi Tasaranarwo
India stands ready to work with SADC countries in their quest for industrialisation and economic development.
Presenting a topic titled, “India’s road to industrialisation, lessons for SADC”, to students of the National Defence Course at Zimbabwe National Defence University yesterday, Indian Ambassador to Zimbabwe Vijay Khanduja said his country stood ready to give tips to countries in the region on how they could develop.
“You know the number of lessons, those generic ones, on what we have done in terms of business on how we managed to jump into 75 points in a five-year period are there, and we are ready to work with SADC,”
Mr Khanduja said the path to development was a slow process in which countries must first identify ease of doing business processes, which will certainly help economies to grow and industrialise.
“Planning the economy by paying special focus to core sectors, depending on the requirements of the economy is critical,” he said.
“India’s first five-year plan focused on the agricultural sector. The second one revolved around the idea of developing the public sector and rapid industrialisation. Third one focused on expansion of basic industries like steel, chemicals, machine building, fuel and power.”
Connectivity, said Mr Khanduja, was a key component for nations to move their goods to markets.
Creation of world class educational institutions also helped India’s economy grow, he said.
“Indian institutes of technology were created in 1950s and 1960s as the Institutes of National Importance through special acts of Indian Parliament,” said Khanduja.
“There have been regular additions to the number, with 14 new IITs having been added in the last two decades. The allocation by the central government for all Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) has been in the vicinity of US$1 billion in the past few years.”
On information technology, Mr Khanduja said in the 1980s, India shifted focus towards computerisation and creation of a talent pool in the IT sector, leading to a massive boost for economic development.
Turning to India’s defence sector, he said his country was offering state-of-the-art equipment and systems to the world, with exports worth US$1,6 billion, to 75 countries including Italy, Russia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Poland, France, Spain and Chile.
Online Reporter