‘Crisis presents a chance to change’
MUMBAI: Tata Sons Ltd chairman N Chandrasekaran on Tuesday said the Covid-19 pandemic has come with its own opportunities that could usher in a technologydriven transformation and catapult India into a world beyond “jugaad, tweaks and tricks”.
“Covid-19 could be a catalyst towards digital revolution, ensuring access to health and education to all. Focus should be on building a sustainable future and a more resilient economy,” he said, delivering the 26th Lalit Doshi memorial lecture highlighting India’s opportunities in decade 2020. “At a time of extreme crisis of both lives and economy, sustainable development will need to be at the core of anything India does from this point on,” he said. While the pandemic has led to the evolution of new ways of working for India Inc., forcing it to move away from traditional brick-and-mortar models to digital platforms, Chandrasekaran said technology will play a far more important role than before.
“But these won’t work till there is a digitisation push,” he said. “Jugaad, tweaks and tricks can only do so much, the biggest problems for India is lack of jobs and access to healthcare, which can be properly addressed only by faster adoption of technology.”
Chandrasekaran has recently co-authored a book, Bridgital Nation: Solving Technology’s People Problem, where he predicts that India will be among the world’s top three economies by 2030 by leveraging technology.