Singapore, Apr. 4: Panelists attending a session here on "India – the Knowledge Economy giant : Heading in the right direction" have unanimously opined that in India,"there is no dearth of ideas, but the delivery is weak in quantity and quality."

The comments were made in the second half of the business session at the Incredible India@60 campaign here.

The campaign is being jointly organized by the Government of India and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

A majority of them said that while India's knowledge economy has arrived in terms of talent, creativity, design and inputs, its soft infrastructure – education system, regulatory environment are yet to catch up to meet the high demand.

Unless India addresses the dichotomy of a huge young population and shortage of skills, the next-age revolution of a demographic dividend may miss opportunities or worse still, be a demographic liability, they warned.

They said that the private sector is collaborating with the government in providing education and skills, in newer ways, and added that the government on its part needed to create the right regulatory environment and fulfill its commitments.

Skills development in knowledge related areas is critical to leverage emerging opportunities in the next knowledge revolution, said the participants.

At the breakout session on 'Exploring the Opportunities from the Challenges in India', the panelists agreed that tremendous progress is being made in India's infrastructure and manufacturing sectors. They said India's development model is unique, as it depends more on growth in services than in manufacturing. India's manufacturing sector is based on knowledge and innovation. It has captured top positions in manufacture of products such as two-wheelers, towels, refining, and others. The new India combines manufacturing and services, felt the panelists, adding that India's huge consumer markets and young population would propel further growth. (ANI)