This year Tata Group lost one of its greatest leaders Ratan Tata. Now the group will enter the year 2025 without him. Chairman N Chandrasekaran in his year-end note emphasized the resilience of the Indian economy and expressed optimism for the year 2025. He highlighted India’s strong talent pool and growing manufacturing capabilities which position the nation to thrive amid global geopolitical uncertainties.  In an emotional note he said Though it is difficult to begin a new year without Mr Tata there is comfort in knowing that the business he devoted his life to continues to thrive. Big strategic bets made with his encouragement are bearing fruit particularly in hi-tech industries and manufacturing where our footprint continues to expand. Tata Group’s Ambitious Plans For 2025 Chandrasekaran shared the group’s ambitious goal of generating 5 lakh manufacturing jobs over the next five years. This initiative underscores the Tata Group’s commitment to contributing to India’s economic growth and addressing employment needs. The note detailed the groups big strategic bets across key sectors including manufacturing telecom retail and hospitality. Major Manufacturing Projects Underway The Chairman revealed that construction is in progress at over seven new manufacturing facilities. These projects include India’s first semiconductor fabrication unit in Dholera an electronics assembly plant in Karnataka an automotive plant in Tamil Nadu MRO (maintenance repair and overhaul) facilities in Bengaluru and battery cell manufacturing factories in Gujarat. These initiatives reflect the group’s focus on advancing India’s manufacturing prowess. Expanding Across Key Sectors Beyond manufacturing the Tata Group aims to create significant employment opportunities in retail technology services airlines and hospitality. These efforts align with the group’s vision of holistic growth addressing diverse economic sectors to drive sustained progress. Optimism Amid Global Challenges Chandrasekaran’s note conveyed confidence in India’s ability to navigate the complexities of the global landscape. By leveraging its talent and expanding its manufacturing footprint the country stands to gain a competitive edge in the evolving world economy. The Tata Group’s strategic initiatives and investments are poised to make a lasting impact reinforcing its role as a key driver of India’s economic and industrial advancement. Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran New Year Message In his New Year message to employees of the salt-to-software conglomerate Chandrasekaran termed it as a new manufacturing golden age for India and said he was looking ahead to 2025 with a sense of hope and optimism after 2024 a year marked by the loss of Tata Group Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata. While AI-led breakthroughs in healthcare and mobility can help the whole of humanity manufacturing has the potential to transform our economy in India he wrote. Elaborating he said Global supply chains continue to shift in Indias favour as the worlds largest businesses strike a new balance between resilience and efficiency. What might have seemed like a short-term reaction to the pandemic has proved much more enduring. Amid relentless geopolitical instability Chandrasekaran said The equation has tilted firmly toward resilience and India with our vast talent pool and growing manufacturing capacity is poised to benefit. He said ground-breaking ceremonies and construction began at over seven new manufacturing plants including Indias first semiconductor fab in Dholera Gujarat and a brand new semiconductor OSAT plant in Assam. There is the electronics assembly plant in Narasapura Karnataka an automotive plant in Panapakkam Tamil Nadu and new MRO facilities in Bengaluru Karnataka Chandrasekaran said. He further said We also have new battery cell manufacturing factories in Sanand Gujarat and in Somerset UK. We inaugurated the C295 final assembly line (FAL) in Vadodara Gujarat and began solar module production in Tirunelveli Tamil Nadu. The five lakh new jobs will be in addition to the many services jobs we expect to introduce across retail tech services airlines and hospitality among other sectors. Such moves are exciting for our group and for India but more importantly they give hope to the one million young people who enter our workforce each month. Thankfully manufacturing has powerful multiplier effects; indirect employment opportunities from sectors such as semiconductor manufacturing are substantial Chandrasekaran noted. It is with a sense of hope and optimism that I look ahead to 2025. Indias economy is strong and the great trends of the age are in our favour he said.  AI can transform healthcare in other profound ways not only enhancing how we understand and treat diseases but also how we diagnose them. Machine learning is being used more in environmental research while large language models hold the potential to significantly expand access to clinical care the Tata Sons Chairman said. He further said We will continue to see significant acceleration in the use of AI in fields like healthcare and mobility.  (With inputs from PTI)