Updated Apr 08, 2021 | 13:23 IST | Debashish Mukerji With demand restored after the pandemic slump, manufacturing is back with full throttle. But rising commodity prices, pressure to improve technology, while addressing environmental concerns, remain challenging Beyond COVID: Manufacturing’s Innovation Imperative Though the Covid-19 pandemic induced lockdown is long past, the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) is still fluctuating unsteadily from month to month – it was positive for October and December 2020, but negative for November 2021 and January 2021. Industry leaders who gathered at The Economic Times–IBM virtual roundtable on ‘Beyond Covid-19: Manufacturing’s Innovation Imperative’, however, insisted that manufacturing had already regained its vitality and the IIP would soon begin reflecting it. “2020-21 has been a volatile year, but there is distinct improvement now,” said Abhijit Roy, Managing Director and CEO, Berger Paints. “In the first quarter, when the lockdown was in full force, our revenue declined 48% per cent, but in the third quarter, we have grown 25 per cent in terms of value and 32 per cent in volume.”