IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/123142.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Analyzing technology aspect of India's manufacturing: The global context and future of work

Author

Listed:
  • Tandon, Anjali

Abstract

Although developed countries lead in technological advancements and adoption, nations in the Global South are not immune to their effects due to increasingly borderless interactions. The extent of transformation will depend on the economic and technological feasibility in the less developed economies suggesting the co-existence of existing technologies even though the technology frontier continues to shift upwards. Therefore, it is intriguing to understand the relative significance of the distinguished technology levels in terms of their employment base and also for different typologies (e.g. employment-intensive, export-oriented, import-dependent, etc.) of the industry. In the backdrop of the likely non-uniform technology impact across regions and countries and the likely existence of the different levels of technology, the paper has two key objectives. First, to present a balanced view of the possible challenges and opportunities from the technology transition across the regions. However, the linkage between technology (as in innovation) and employment is also influenced by the sector where the firm operates. Technology response of the sector tends to vary due to factors including the richness of technological opportunities, cumulativeness of the knowledge base, or the means to protect the economic benefits of innovation/ technology. The view motivates the second objective to classify the broad manufacturing into sectors by different technology levels, viz., high-, medium-high-, medium-low-, and low-technology, and study their relative significance in employment, value added, export, imports and output in the manufacturing segment of the Indian economy. The present paper contributes through providing a technology profile of the Indian manufacturing by classifying sectors into four categories, originally based on the R&D intensities as defined by the OECD. The technology categorization takes into account the R&D spending as a proportion of the value added and output of the industry in the ISIC Revision 3 nomenclature. By extending the classification to the more recent ISIC Revision 4 (which is also aligned to the National Industrial Classification 2008 in India), we classify each of the 69 manufacturing sectors reported in the India Input-Output database for a recently available year which are further grouped into 17 sectors for comprehensiveness while also maintaining their distinguished technology categorization, the paper uses the classification in the Indian context. The four technology categories are assessed for their relative significance in terms of supporting employment, exports, imports and output of the manufacturing sectors. Also analyzed in the paper is the sector-level labour productivity, employment intensity, export intensity and import intensity based on the technology classification. The paper concludes with a broad recommendation in view of the increasing and pervasive use of technology across different parts of the world. In the Indian context, based on the analysis of the Indian manufacturing sectors, strategic interventions are suggested for better performance of the technology sectors and to minimize the frictions between technology and jobs in the future times. Proposals for investment in workforce development activities for effective job creation are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Tandon, Anjali, 2024. "Analyzing technology aspect of India's manufacturing: The global context and future of work," MPRA Paper 123142, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:123142
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/123142/1/MPRA_paper_123142.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pankaj Vashisht, 2018. "Destruction or Polarization: Estimating the Impact of Technology on Jobs in Indian Manufacturing," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 61(2), pages 227-250, June.
    2. Neil Lee & Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, 2016. "Is There Trickle-Down from Tech? Poverty, Employment, and the High-Technology Multiplier in U.S. Cities," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 106(5), pages 1114-1134, September.
    3. Mani, Sunil, 2000. "Exports of High Technology Products from Developing Countries: Is it Real or a Statistical Artifact?," UNU-INTECH Discussion Paper Series 2000-01, United Nations University - INTECH.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dezhong Duan & Qifan Xia, 2022. "From the United States to China? A trade perspective to reveal the structure and dynamics of global electronic‐telecommunications," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 823-847, June.
    2. Sanjib Pohit & Sanjukta Basu, 2012. "High Technology Merchandise Exports: Where does India Stand?," South Asia Economic Journal, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, vol. 13(2), pages 183-206, September.
    3. Dahai Fu & Yanrui Wu & Yihong Tang, 2012. "Does Innovation Matter for Chinese High-Tech Exports? A Firm-Level Analysis," Frontiers of Economics in China-Selected Publications from Chinese Universities, Higher Education Press, vol. 7(2), pages 218-245, June.
    4. Brunow, Stephan & Birkeneder, Antonia & Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés, 2017. "Creative and science oriented employees and firm innovation : a key for smarter cities?," IAB-Discussion Paper 201724, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    5. Qiang Li & Jason F. Kovacs & Geun Hee Choi, 2021. "High-technology employment growth in China: geographic disparities in economic structure and sectoral performance," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 54(4), pages 1025-1064, November.
    6. Neil Lee & Paul Sissons, 2016. "Inclusive growth? The relationship between economic growth and poverty in British cities," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 48(11), pages 2317-2339, November.
    7. Lee, Neil & Clarke, Stephen, 2019. "Do low-skilled workers gain from high-tech employment growth? High-technology multipliers, employment and wages in Britain," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(9), pages 1-1.
    8. Sunil Mani & Anthony Bartzokas, 2004. "Institutional support for investment in new technologies: the role of venture capital institutions in developing countries," Chapters, in: Anthony Bartzokas & Sunil Mani (ed.), Financial Systems, Corporate Investment in Innovation, and Venture Capital, chapter 6, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Mani, Sunil, 2001. "Role of Government in Promoting Innovation in the Enterprise Sector An Analysis of the Indian Experience," UNU-INTECH Discussion Paper Series 2001-03, United Nations University - INTECH.
    10. Samy Bennaceur & Adel Boughrara & Samir Ghazouani, 2007. "On the Linkage Between Monetary Policy and MENA Stock Markets," Working Papers 723, Economic Research Forum, revised 04 Jan 2007.
    11. Mercedes Campi & Marco Dueñas & Tommaso Ciarli, 2024. "Do creative industries enhance employment growth? Regional evidence from Colombia," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(3), pages 425-441, March.
    12. Mehta, Swati, 2010. "Technology Dynamism: Analyses of Changing Structure of Trade in Organized Manufacturing Industries In India," MPRA Paper 41495, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Brunow, Stephan & Birkeneder, Antonia & Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés, 2018. "Creative and science-oriented employees and firm-level innovation," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 87588, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    14. Éltető, Andrea, 2014. "A visegrádi országok kereskedelme Ázsiával - a globális termelés lenyomata [The trade of the Visegrád countries with Asia - a manifestation of global production]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(5), pages 586-608.
    15. Cieślik Ewa, 2014. "Region Of Southern Africa: International Trade And Global Value Chains," Folia Oeconomica Stetinensia, Sciendo, vol. 14(2), pages 239-258, December.
    16. Chatterjee, Rittwik & Chattopadhyay, Srobonti, 2013. "High Technology Products Exports by India and China: A Constant Market Share Analysis," MPRA Paper 51800, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Jain Ritika, 2021. "Information and Communication Technology Adoption and the Demand for Female Labor: The Case of Indian Industry," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 21(2), pages 695-722, April.
    18. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Neil Lee, 2020. "Hipsters vs. Geeks? Creative workers, STEM and innovation in US cities," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2021, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Apr 2020.
    19. Mani, Sunil, 2001. "Government, Innovation and Technology Policy, An Analysis of the Brazilian Experience during the 1990s," UNU-INTECH Discussion Paper Series 2001-11, United Nations University - INTECH.
    20. Jorge Chami Batista, 2003. "Latin American Export Specialization and Growth: An Inquiry into the Nature of Product Competition between Different Exporters," Discussion Paper Series 146, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Manufacturing; technology-based classification; Low-tech; medium-tech; high-tech; India;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L6 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing
    • O14 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Industrialization; Manufacturing and Service Industries; Choice of Technology

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:123142. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.