Services will play a bigger role than manufacturing in India's growth: Bill Gates

Services will play a bigger role than manufacturing in India’s growth: Bill Gates

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on March 27 said that India will have to do things in its own way and the services segment will play a bigger role than manufacturing in the country’s growth journey.

The billionaire was speaking virtually at the Times Now Summit 2024.

“India has had pretty steady growth for some time. Obviously, there are countries to learn from which also had periods of very long growth. India will have to do things its own way. Manufacturing, for example, will play a role, but not as great a role as it did, say, in China. Services will play a greater role,” Gates said during an interaction at the Summit.

He further said that India is a key country in the foundation’s philanthropic and technological aspirations and highlighted the deep partnership it has developed with various states such as Odisha and Uttar Pradesh over the years. Gates also highlighted the country’s talent pool and commitment to implement cost-effective measures to solve critical issues.

“In my first career at Microsoft, I had a great experience in India where over the last 25 years, Microsoft has built up a team. There are now over 25,000 people,” he said.

He also shared an anecdote from his trip when he met a tea maker in Hyderabad. Gates said, “My team suggested that we should do something fun… something that will help me connect with India more and to my surprise the video of that meeting went viral.”

And what about the big fat Indian wedding in Jamnagar?

“Mukesh Ambani has been a great friend. I went to the refinery there one evening and I got a chance to talk to him about his green investments. The hospitality was excellent, too.”

Further during the interaction, Gates highlighted the advancements in the digital infrastructure of the country and lauded the efforts taken by the government to share it with other nations.

“It was fantastic that India used the big G20 meeting to introduce other countries to digital public infrastructure,” he said.