IFQM Symposium 2025 Brings Industry, Academia, and Policymakers Together

The Indian Foundation for Quality Management (IFQM), established by a consortium of India’s leading enterprises, is set to host the second edition of its annual 2-day IFQM Symposium, focusing on how Quality & Innovation can make India globally competitive. The event is to be held in New Delhi on September 18–19, 2025, under the central theme “Quality & Innovation to Make India Globally Competitive”.

IFQM is led by a Governing Council* consisting of top industry captains. This year’s symposium will convene government leaders, global experts, industry champions, and academia to deliberate on an action agenda for positioning India as a trusted, world-class player in global value chains. Following the successful inaugural symposium in October 2024, which brought together policymakers, industry titans, and global quality experts to explore transformational quality agendas, the 2025 edition will not only further deepen these discussions and chart the way forward but will also showcase the many initiatives undertaken by IFQM since 2024 that are driving this journey.

The event will witness participation from Hon’ble Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, senior government policymakers, and industry leaders such as Mr. Venu Srinivasan (Chairman Emeritus, TVS Motor & Chairman, IFQM), Mr. N. Chandrasekaran (Chairman, Tata Sons), Mr. S.N. Subrahmanyan (Chairman & MD, Larsen & Toubro), Mr. Vivek Chaand Sehgal (Chairman & Co-founder, Motherson Group), Mr. Dilip Shanghvi (Managing Director, Sun Pharmaceuticals), Dr. Randhir Thakur (CEO & MD, Tata Electronics Pvt. Ltd.), Mr. K.N. Radhakrishnan (Director & CEO, TVS Motor Company), and Mr. Salil Gupte (President, Boeing India & South Asia). More than 200 CEOs and CXOs, MSME representatives, and 50+ academic leaders and students are expected to join this by-invite event.

Global quality and innovation luminaries, including Dr. Noriaki Kano (TQM pioneer), Jacques Esculier (Daimler Truck AG, S&P Global), Harold Kroeger (SiMa.ai), M Onodera (JUSE), Al Faber, CEO Emeritus of Baldrige Foundation, Frank Sieren, China Bureau Chief, Wirtschafts Woche, Scot Gardner, a global Tech expert from Siemens, and Dr. Hans-Joachim Neumann, Head of Integrated Supply Chain, Merck Electronics will lead discussions alongside top Indian executives, sharing valuable insights and expertise around the theme.

Sharing his thoughts about the Symposium, Mr. Soumitra Bhattacharya, CEO & Director, IFQM, stated, the vision of Viksit Bharat demands nothing short of a quantum leap in India’s global competitiveness. Achieving this requires an industry-led movement anchored in a Nation First ethos, the one that brings together large enterprises, MSMEs, supply chains, and academia in a shared commitment to quality and innovation. By embedding world-class practices into our industries and nurturing future-ready talent through quality education, we can position India’s products, services, and ideas seamlessly within global value chains. The IFQM Symposium 2025 is not just a forum for discussion, but rather a call to action to set higher benchmarks, close critical gaps, and accelerate our journey toward becoming a global leader in excellence.

The major takeaways from last year’s symposium are:

• India needs to quickly move to become a global powerhouse in manufacturing, technology, and services.
• India’s diversity offers an ideal testing ground for sustainable and scalable solutions that deploy AI and digital tools as transformative forces to enhance quality standards.
• Leadership accountability is a crucial catalyst to making cross-industry partnerships meaningful.
• Cultivating a culture of quality and innovation needs a ‘Big Q’ approach that goes beyond quick fixes to embracing systematic and sustainable practices.

Taking forward the symposium agenda for 2025 will feature a broad spectrum of sessions designed to explore how India can accelerate its journey towards becoming a self-reliant, inclusive, and globally respected nation. Discussions will examine India’s current standing in global quality, productivity, and innovation; the pathways to achieve ambitious 2030 targets; the role of industry–academia partnerships in enabling growth; and how innovation can be deployed to address systemic barriers.

Over two days, the symposium will feature 25+ sessions covering national imperatives, sectoral deep dives, and cross-cutting enablers. Highlights include:

• Viksit Bharat- Imperatives and Opportunities: Keynote by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and N Chandrasekaran, on advancing towards a self-reliant, inclusive, and globally respected India.
• Fireside Chat with Venu Srinivasan, S.N. Subrahmanyan, Dilip Shanghvi and Srikanth Padmanabhan, moderated by Mr. Jacques Esculier, on leading in a BANI (Brittle, Anxious, Non-linear, Incomprehensible) environment.
• Sector Panels on Auto & Engineering, Aerospace & Defence, Digital & AI, Electronics & Semiconductors, Pharma & Health Sciences, and Health and Hospitals.
• Thematic Tracks on MSMEs in global supply chains, Industry–Academia collaboration, leveraging crises as catalysts for national resurgence and learnings from Business from the disciplines of Fine arts.
• Cultural Integration: “Quality in Indian Culture” – a thematic dance performance by Abhinava Dance Company.