Atul Chaturvedi, Additional Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), said that the debate around embracing Industry 4.0 and the job losses that it could entail had settled in favour of new and more jobs that the new industry paradigm would create.

This had emboldened the government to give a fillip to adopt and assimilate the best standards from the expertise available from within and outside the country and march ahead to impart competitiveness to manufacturing and services, he said.

Speaking at an event, Chaturvedi said that India is going to be $5 trillion economy in the next five years and the aim is to achieve it faster by increasing competitiveness of  industry and adopting new technologies like Industry 4.0.

The time now was to skill and re-skill the workforce to grasp and align their expertise with the requirements of Industry 4.0, he said.

He said India had emerged as the most preferred destination for R&D activities of top companies of Europe and the U.S. and much of the rest of the developed world because of the environment that protects IP and facilitates innovation and R&D.

The government, on its part, was doing its utmost to ensure that expertise from within and outside the country flows in to give manufacturing a fillip. 

The government is partnering with other countries like Germany with its Mittelstand companies to tap their technologies for the benefit of India's MSME sector, he added.

Amita Prasad, Director General, National Productivity Council, emphasised the need to adopt manufacturing standards that are commonly agreed to and not just copy the global standards unilaterally.

Security and safety of data was another area that had to be carefully monitored and ensured, she added.