Digitalization will always create employment opportunities, but people will have to change their skills: Sunil Mathur, Siemens

Sunil Mathur, MD & CEO, Siemens India, speaks about innovation day, digitalization and its contribution during an exclusive chat with Swati Khandelwal, Zee Business. Edited Excerpts: 

Q: What is your view on Innovation Day and Digitalization?

A: Speciality of innovation day is that we are talking about digitalization that is based-on used cases, which has been implemented. So, we have the ability to talk about the factually overused cases and not just talking theoretically. This innovation day, we will be showcasing what we can do in power, digitalisation industrial scenario, cities & infrastructure and mobility by introducing and adopting new technologies. 

Q: How would digitalization help in the overall bigger aspect of job creation in India?

A: Digitalization will increase employment. It will increase employment because its arrival in an area will increase the productivity of the area, which in turn will bring growth in the area. Growth will increase employment opportunities. But, it will bring change and that is that people will have to change their skills and leave behind the skills that they have been carrying till date. Eventually, digitalization will increase employment.  

Q: Your digitalization product portfolio as it along with mobility products have performed well in the quarter. So, how do you see this segment contributing to overall revenue?

A: Digitalization will have an important contribution in almost every segment. It will benefit the most in the industrial space as it will help in increasing productivity and competitiveness. In fact, it will bring the ability to grow because more products can be developed at the same cost. In smart infrastructure, an average person benefits a lot from it. It can also have a great contribution to mobility as well because it increases efficiency in infrastructure space. 

Q: You have revised your strategy and have a special focus on short-cycle orders. How many short cycle orders are lying in your order book and its impact on your margin when compared to long cycle order margin?

A: There is an increase in our short cycle orders, but it doesn’t mean that we are just concentrating on it. We also have long cycle and infrastructure orders and we are also concentrating on them too. But, we will have a major focus on the bottom-line. Thus, we will concentrate majorly on projects that can provide bottom-line benefits. Infrastructure projects are also important for us because we want to grow, and it will come from infrastructure projects. But, it doesn’t mean that we will concentrate largely on short cycle projects. We will focus on both infrastructure and short cycle projects. In fact, we have concentrated on those in the last 4-5 years and it has helped in increasing our top line as well as the bottom-line.  

Q: How your smart infrastructure division is performing and what kind of order inflows are expected from the new government, Modi 2.0?

A: Infrastructure is going to be the focus area of the new government. In the past years too, they had their focus on the segment in the past as well and the continuity will be maintained. In fact, we are planning to participate in future infrastructure projects. 

Q: Tell us what is the industry expectation from Modi 2.0, in terms of the capital goods sector and digitalization segment?

A: Continuity of policies is an important expectation and the new government will stand by it. The government will continue with the policy and reform programs of the past years. Industry wants continuity of reforms and policies and we expect that the new government will continue with it. 

Q: Which of the vertical/division will act as a growth driver for Siemens in future? What are your growth targets in every division? 

A: We will have a focus on every segment, primarily on digitalization, energy distribution and smart infrastructure. I think ample opportunities for growth are available in these segments. Opportunities are also available in other segments too like mobility, power generation and industrial segments and we will concentrate on all these segments. 

Q: Slowdown has been seen in several segments. What is your outlook towards them and name the areas where you can improve your margins and bottom line? 

A: We will focus on mobility, digitalization and smart infrastructure.