India’s manufacturing sector is moving into a more demanding phase, where automation alone is no longer the differentiator. Speaking at the ET Now.in Business Conclave & Awards 2026 – Gujarat Edition, GeekyAnts Founder and CEO Kumar Pratik said Industry 4.0 helped factories build visibility through connected systems, sensor data, and predictive dashboards, but the next leap will depend on how quickly that intelligence can drive decisions in real time.
That shift, Kumar Pratik suggested, is what defines the move toward Industry 5.0. For manufacturers under pressure to improve uptime, productivity, and sustainability at the same time, AI’s real value lies not just in generating real-time insights, but in helping reduce decision delays that still sit within operational and leadership silos. In that sense, the conversation around manufacturing transformation is becoming less about data visibility and more about intelligent action.
Pratik also tied that change to India’s wider industrial ambitions, saying that GPUs and semiconductor chips hold a powerful leverage, and India will need stronger capabilities in automated manufacturing if it wants to shape the future of global industrial growth.
What This Means for Indian Manufacturers
For Indian manufacturers the problem is not data but speed: turning insights into action. Gartner reports point the finger towards siloed information as a major barrier to better real-time decisions, and a recent World Economic Forum survey found that while 60% of manufacturers adopt AI for operations, fewer than 20% say it has driven measurable topline growth.
Globally, manufacturers are moving to smarter, scalable and holistically connected systems, where planning, quality and maintenance act in concert rather than in isolation. To drive AI-driven industrial transformation, the real competitive advantage does not come from adopting AI as a standalone tool but from using it strategically to reshape how decisions get made across the business. For India, closing the gap between visibility and action and building a scalable tech stack will determine the next chapter of industrial growth.
The discussion took place at the Gujarat edition of the ET Now Business Conclave & Awards 2026 in Ahmedabad, where GeekyAnts received the Excellence in AI & Digital Transformation award. The honor was presented by Shri Arjun Modhwadia, Cabinet Minister for Science and Technology in the Gujarat Government, with Kumar Pratik, Sanket Sahu, and Kunal representing GeekyAnts at the ceremony. Seen in that context, the recognition reinforced GeekyAnts’ role in the broader digital transformation conversation now reshaping manufacturing and enterprise operations.