Wharton India Economic Forum 2010 Draws An Optimistic Picture Of India’s Future.

Women’s forum (L to R): Sangita Reddy, Director, Apollo Hospitals, Malini Ramani, fashion designer,
Roopa Purushotaman, Head of Research, Ever Stone Investment Advisors, Farzana Haque,
Global Head, Large Accounts, SBU TATA, Vinita Jain, Chairperson and
MD, Biotique, Ekta Kapoor, TV serial producer, Shweta Kohli, Economic Affairs editor, NDTV

The 14th Wharton India Economic Forum with its share of glitterati from Indian politics, industries, media, socialsector and academics converged at the Park Hyatt in Philadelphia on March 27 to debate and deliberate India’s present and future.

One of the most prestigious business forums to be held outside India and put together by the students of Wharton Business School, the event was attended by over 500 professionals, Wharton alumni, students and faculty.

The conference, focused on the theme “India: Breaking Boundaries”, had eminent speakers discussing a range of issues from healthcare, infrastructure and NGOs to globalization of Bollywood.

The keynote speakers were Praful Patel, Union Minister for Civil Aviation; Aditya Puri, CEO and MD, HDFC;

Subhash Chandra, Chairman, Essel Group & Zee Entertainment Enterprises; and Sachin Pilot, Minister of State of Communications and IT.

Keynote Panel:India-Breaking Boundaries: (L to R): Anjani Jain, Vice Dean & Director, The Wharton School, Aditya Puri, Managing
Director and CEO HDFC, Naveen Jindal MP, Kalpana Kochhar, Country head-India, International Monetary Fund, Atul Punj, Chairman,
Punj Lloyd LTD, Praveen Kadle, MD TATA Capital, and Vikram Limaye, Director, IDFC.

NRI Today brings you excerpts from speeches made by some of the luminaries at the event: 

Subhash Chandra, Chairman of Essel Group & Zee Entertainment Enterprises @ keynote speech: “India has arrived as it has become the third largest economy in the world. However the growth of television has indeed given rise to consumerism, exactly what the earlier Indian government at the time of Doordarshan monopoly was afraid of. The aspirations of people have increased and, unmet, that leads to unrest. No wonder, one-third of India is under the sway of Naxalism.”

Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel @ keynote address: “India will be among the top five aviation markets in the world - both in terms of size and scale in the next five years. Indian aviation is on the threshold of making history. The policy of giving a fillip to infrastructure development that began in 1991 paved way for growth in the aviation sector. There were 44 operational airports and that has been raised to 92 now and the goal is to have 400 operational airports, big and small, all over India connecting every city. In 2004, when I came to this office, India was not at all recognized in the world of aviation. But in a short span of time, we have now become the 9th largest aviation market in the world. Within five years we will be breaking into the top five aviation markets in the world in terms of size and scale. Indian aviation sector has helped more Indians to fly. Flying was just a dream for them once. But that dream is turning into a reality now.”

Adiya Puri, CEO and Managing Director, HDFC Bank @ keynote speech: “India has a robust financial system now which has prevented the recession bedeviling even the developed world. HDFC, foresees a big expansion in coming years, by reaching out in the interiors parts of the country through different distribution channels, maybe using telecom agents. Business cannot be altruistic but in its self-interest it has to work towards bridging the gap between the haves and the have nots.”

Sachin Pilot, Union minister of state for communication and information technology @ keynote address: “It’s a positive sign for India that the country’s young people have of late started taking a tremendous interest in participating in the political process. Thousands of youngsters are taking part in the panchayati or other local and municipal bodies in the past four to five years and the numbers are going up than ever before. India’s economic architecture is changing and so is the demography and the young people across India are getting much more involved in taking on the challenges facing the country. Today’s young people in India are much confident and have faith in themselves, in their society and in the country and in every sphere than they had some 15 or 20 years ago.”

Kalpana Kocchar, country head- India, International Monetary Fund @ keynote panel ‘India: Breaking Boundaries’: “It is very difficult not to be bullish on India because of the country’s demographic advantage, its durable institutions and its dynamic private sector. We are going to be the youngest population in the world in terms of workforce till the year 2050 and will be providing essentially the labor force for the world.”

Atul Punj, Chairman, Punj Lloyd @ panel ‘Developing India’s infrastructure’: “the public-private sector is finally paying a lot of attention to infrastructure. For example, on roads, the target is to pave 20 km of road a day, and we have reached the 12 km a day level already. India is no longer a low cost country. India should step up investment in technology and research labs that would be a game changer, not cheap labor force. Besides IIMs and IITs, now we need IISs (Indian Institutes of Science).”

Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Sarod maestro @ panel on ‘Performing Arts and Entertainment’ : “Music festivals are being organized not only in metros but in small towns as well in India. Youngsters follow music in their own way, some like fusion, some like jazz and most classical. There may be I-pods and I phones in the market but can anyone develop 13 notes. The sacred relationship between guru and shishya did miracles in the 1940 and 1950s. The relationship was perfect and a guru wanted his disciples to succeed and gave his or her best without any expectations and wanted them to carry on his tradition. Education is important but what is the point of education if that could lead to terrorist attacks and September 11 attacks on innocent people?”

Shankar Mahadevan, composer, versatile musician @ panel on ‘Performing Arts and Entertainment ’ : “Music composing in films comprises four elements – composition, lyrics, management of how to present and choice of singer. All four must be interwoven to make the song a hit. Connection with audience is very important for success of any concert. Music world now operates with management precision including delivery time. Youngsters get to hear 10 songs in 30 seconds and flip them at the touch of the button. You have to be extremely competitive and on the edge to succeed.”

P.K. Agarwal, Chief Technology Officer, State of California @ panel discussion ‘Outsourcing and Technology: Global Integration’: “ Indian IT industry has grown exponentially and established the nation as the world’s front and back office. But the current financial crisis is threatening to derail that status. It is time to ask whether Indian IT industry’s export driven growth model has run out of steam in the global economic turmoil?” Monty Singh, senior vice president and global head, Genpact @ panel discussion ‘Outsourcing and Technology: Global Integration’: “World market may not go back to high single digit growth. I am worried about nascent GDP growth. What we sell has to change, we need to not just be the grunt but also manage the grunts. India has changed from efficiency to resultbased mode of thinking. We need to leverage output and get paid for price and innovation rather than hours.”

Mani Subramaniam, vice president and head retail, Wipro Technologies @ panel discussion ‘Outsourcing and Technology: Global Integration’: “India produces 500,000 engineers a year with excellent skills. Philippines, into IT outsourcing, has engineers who may be good in English but not that good in IT skills. Software professionals in China, Russia and Eastern European nations are good at IT but bad in English. But they are sure to catch up in English in 10 years. In South American and African countries the mantra is now “India-shoring”.

Sangita Reddy, Director, Apollo Hospitals @ ‘Women in India - Breaking the Glass Ceiling’ panel: “More than half the workforce in my group of hospitals is women and I have been striving to get them into leadership roles. In appropriate roles, women can help improve society.

There was a time when people used to pity my father ‘Pratap Reddy has four daughters’ and now they say ‘Good that Pratap Reddy has four daughters’.” Vidya Balan highlights Indian cinema’s global impact at Wharton Bollywood actress Vidya Balan was invited to the Wharton School in Pennsylvania to be part of the 14th Wharton India Economic Forum. She showcased the high points of Indian cinema there. The 32-year-old was invited to speak March 27 on globalization of mainstream Indian cinema.

Vidya spoke on how mainstream Indian cinema is going global in every way possible as international production houses including Warner Brothers and Disney are producing Indian films. And how Indian movies are being watched in over 90 countries and are consistently recognized across international film festivals. Vidya was part of a panel that discussed the achievements, shortcomings and future prospects of the Indian film industry as it scales new global heights.

Others on the panel included Anil Kapoor, Shankar Mahadevan and Namit Malhotra.    

[ BY YOGESH KARIKURVE ]