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In 2023, India shattered expectations, cementing itself because the world’s fifth-largest economic system and inventory market — trailing solely the US, China, Japan, and Germany. For individuals who bear in mind the Seventies, when India was dismissed as a “third-world nation”, this transformation is nothing wanting extraordinary. That outdated label is lifeless. At present, India stands on the point of superpower standing.
The following milestone? By 2047, when India celebrates 100 years of Independence, it mustn’t simply aspire however decide to changing into the world’s second-largest economic system — outranking even China. This isn’t a pipe dream. It’s the inevitable trajectory of a nation that broke free from the bureaucratic shackles of the license raj and has spent the final three a long time unleashing its financial potential. As administration students and proud Indians, we’re not simply hopeful, we’re satisfied.
However let’s be clear: Climbing from quantity 5 to quantity two received’t occur by means of incremental enhancements or by reusing previous methods. India wants a radical, transformative playbook. We name it a fusion technique.
The facility of fusion technique
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Tech titans like Fb, Amazon, Netflix, and Google revolutionised Enterprise-to-Client (B2C) markets by leveraging real-time consumption information. Within the twentieth century, film studios tracked gross sales — what number of tickets they offered. Netflix flipped the sport by monitoring how every person consumed content material: What, when, the place, and the way. This granular perception enabled hyper-personalised suggestions, reshaping the leisure trade. The outcome? An information-driven juggernaut that left conventional studios scrambling.
In 2007, earlier than the iPhone’s debut, the world’s Most worthy firms have been ExxonMobil, GE, Toyota, and Royal Dutch Shell — giants constructed on bodily merchandise. Quick ahead to right this moment. In 2025, the panorama is dominated by digital and cellular expertise. Microsoft, Apple, Nvidia, Alphabet, Tesla, Netflix, and Amazon now rule the market.
The $100 trillion international economic system has seen a digital overhaul within the asset-light B2C sector, which represents 25 per cent of the GDP. However the true disruption is but to return — the $75 trillion industrial sector is subsequent. The following wave of globalisation won’t be constructed on value arbitrage however on the fusion of bodily and digital domains — fusion technique.
India’s subsequent digital transformation should come from the business-to-business (B2B) industrial sector.
India’s fusion frontier: Revolutionising manufacturing
Take Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), an industrial large. Within the twentieth century, its aggressive edge got here from design, manufacturing, and gross sales. Again then, it tracked what number of tractors it offered. However right this moment, armed with sensible sensors, AI, and pc imaginative and prescient, M&M can observe how farmers use their tractors in real-time — each second, each motion.
Very like Netflix analyses viewing patterns, M&M can use AI to analyse real-time information from its machines. The implications are game-changing:
Predictive upkeep: As an alternative of ready for breakdowns, AI-driven diagnostics guarantee almost 100 per cent uptime.
Uber-style gear sharing: Farmers can hire underused tractors on demand, slashing prices and growing effectivity.
Precision farming: By integrating information from climate patterns, soil situations, and crop cycles, M&M can present farmers with hyper-personalised suggestions on what to plant, when, and the way — maximising yields.
This isn’t nearly digitising outdated machines. That is about reimagining total industries. And M&M is only one instance. Think about making use of fusion technique to:
Automotive & mobility — Self-optimising fleets that cut back gas waste.
Personalised healthcare — AI-driven diagnostics tailor-made to people.
Good houses — IoT-powered options adapting in actual time.
Sustainable vitality — AI-driven sensible grids lowering energy wastage.
The components is straightforward — mix India’s industrial muscle with digital intelligence.
India’s distinctive edge
For India to safe the quantity two spot by 2047, its manufacturing sector should scale up massively. However low-cost manufacturing alone received’t reduce it. India should personal the worldwide marketplace for sensible, linked, and AI-driven merchandise.
India has a number of distinctive benefits that place it to steer the fusion revolution:
World-class digital infrastructure — India leapfrogged outdated phone strains and constructed a state-of-the-art telecom community, delivering high-speed connectivity at among the lowest prices on the earth.
Digital public items — Aadhaar (digital identification), DigiLocker (safe doc storage), and UPI (seamless funds) have created a blueprint for digitised economies.
Bodily infrastructure growth — Roads, ports, and logistics networks are increasing at an unprecedented tempo, important for scaling industrial output.
Demographic dividend — India boasts a younger, dynamic workforce that may energy a next-gen manufacturing growth.
Unparalleled expertise pipeline — With 1.5 million engineering graduates and three,00,000 MBAs yearly, India has the mental firepower to execute this transformation.
Name to motion
For too lengthy, manufacturing has performed second fiddle to IT providers. That adjustments now. India wants a devoted organisation, perhaps a India@100: Fusion Technique, led by Niti Aayog to drive this transformation. Very like NASSCOM spearheaded the IT revolution within the Nineteen Nineties, this new initiative should convey collectively policymakers, enterprise leaders, startups, VCs, and universities to make fusion technique a actuality. India should give attention to these 11 high-potential, asset-heavy sectors — automotive and mobility, personalised well being, sensible houses, precision farming, customised schooling, sustainable vitality, aerospace and defence, airline and plane operations, oil and gasoline, business autos, and private mobility.
The longer term is now
On the flip of the twenty first century, India’s IT sector redefined international expertise. Now, 2025 marks a brand new inflection level. The following revolution won’t be constructed on low cost labour or legacy factories. It is going to be pushed by AI-powered, digitally built-in industries.
Fusion technique isn’t only a idea — it’s a blueprint for India’s rise. The query isn’t if India will develop into the world’s quantity two economic system. The one query is how briskly we get there. As Mahatma Gandhi stated, “The longer term relies on what we do within the current.” India should act — boldly, decisively, instantly. The sceptics will doubt. However the dreamers and builders will form the longer term.
The world is watching. Let’s lead.
Govindarajan is the Coxe Distinguished Professor on the Tuck College of Enterprise at Dartmouth Faculty and Venkatraman is the David J McGrath Jr Professor in Info Techniques on the Questrom College of Enterprise, Boston College (Emeritus). They’re the authors of Fusion Technique: How Actual-Time Knowledge and AI Will Energy the Industrial Future
