WIEF meet puts India on world map

Geet Sethi (L), Sunil Gavaskar (C) and Vijay Amrithraj (Extreme Right) with others at WIEF 13th Forum.

Philadelphia: The faculty and students of the Wharton School organized the 13th Annual Wharton India Economic Forum conference on March 21. This event was a leading business forum for thought-leaders, professionals, alumni, faculty and students to discuss the unprecedented opportunities that lie in India’s way and the challenges that need to be addressed to realize these opportunities. The theme of this year’s conference was “Experience India: The Road Ahead.”

India has undergone a sea change since it thought of adopting the liberalization policy in the early 90s and was powered by the present Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh who was the then finance minister. The proverbial Elephant had long given way to the roaring Tiger. Favorable demographics post-liberalization, portrayed by a rising in-the-money middle class, has been fueling the spurt in consumption that has made India the favorite investable playground for global majors.

Hand in hand, the country has been gaining prominence over the last two decades as a preferred destination for setting up shop given its acknowledged (and oft-disputed) cost advantages, its ubiquitous skilled workforce and its undying spirit of innovation.

The India, as we know, is poised to be the second largest economy over the next few decades and this is aptly reinforced by the 8 percent plus GDP growth in recent times.

The global economic meltdown has, however, created a host of uncertainties. While India has been enjoying a unique niche for itself in the global economic space even in the times of the Raj through its spice trade and more recently, through its dot-com innovations in the aftermath of the technology bust, it remains to be seen how it differentiates itself in the changed financial landscape of today’s world. Compounded with the political uncertainty as another national election comes round the corner, the bullish sectors of yesteryear would need to develop new competitive strategies and operating paradigms to continue on their promised path to long-term sustainable growth.

WHARTON HAS DEEP ROOTS IN INDIA Anjani Jain, vice dean and director Wharton Graduate Division said, “ Wharton has deep roots in India and its growing role in the global economy. Wharton’s ties with India are pervasive and Wharton provides a quick window for those not connected to the institution.”

On the other hand Arjun Ghose, Anshul Mittal and Arjun Madan chairmen of the conference said that “the conference wanted to explore India in the backdrop of a changed global landscape. The aim was to chart a roadmap for India in the global arena not only for the economic perspective but also encompassing the social-political issues that impact the nation at large.”

Since its inception 13 years ago, the Wharton India Economic Forum (WIEF) has been and continues to be the leading business forum focused on India in the United States. WIEF was launched in 1996 at The Wharton School with a mission to engage the world’s attention on India’s enormous potential and the limitless possibilities the country offers.

Since the first forum, WIEF has stimulated energetic dialogue between current and future leaders from various walks of economic, social and political life and has been covered in over twenty-five leading global newspapers and magazines. Most recently, in 2007, WIEF attracted over 700 attendees including prominent business figures, policy makers, professionals and

Sabeer Bhatia

students to debate pertinent issues, relevant to the Indian economy, under the expansive theme “India: Imagine.” The conference theme “The Road Ahead” is apt as it discusses not just India’s economic prospects in the world but also how it can be a politically active and socially responsible power. It is essential, given the current state of world affairs that India be prepared to go beyond the ordinary and truly actualize itself as a country, in terms of its immense resources, human and material, as well as everything else it has at its disposal. The Forum also ran 10 panel discussions on diverse topics covering every major aspect that is critical to the Indian economy. The panel discussion included nurturing the national backbone: India’s infrastructure, 2014 and beyond, raising the bar: technology beyond outsourcing, India innovating: entrepreneurial ventures cross domains, the healthcare duopoly: India the medical center of the world, backstage demand drivers: the Indian media and ad industry, league extraordinaire: the industrialization of Indian sports, (sub) prime property: India’s real estate in the aftermath of the mortgage crisis, the Indian express: tourism in the time of turmoil; rational exuberance in the Indian capital market and Bollywood’s silver screen: pursuit of the golden globe. Many panels were moderated by the country’s top journalists including Sreenivasan Jain (Managing Editor NDTV) and Senthil Chengalvarayan (President & Group Editorial Director Business Media, CNBC TV18) and Vijay Amritraj. The participants at the panel discussion included stalwarts like Sunil Gavaskar, former Indian cricket captain, Geet Sethi, world professional billiards champion, Abhishek Bachchan, Abhay Deol, Bhaskar Das executive president of Times Group, Sabeer Bhatia of Hotmail, Satya Prabhakar of Sulekha and other top executives from a host of business houses and industry.

Abhishek Bachchan

The Keynotes and speakers at the Forum included: Jim Rogers (billionaire Investor in the Asian Markets and Co- Founder of the Quantum Fund); Dominic Barton (named the next Global Managing Director, McKinsey & Co.); Chanda Kochhar (named the next CEO and Managing Director, ICICI Bank, India’s largest private financial institution); Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia (Deputy Chairman of India’s Planning Commission and the architect of the country’s current economic policy); and Farrokh Kavarana (Chairman of several Tata Group companies).

TIMES CHANGED FOR INDIAN SPORTSMEN
The one-to-one interaction with Nandan Nielkani and the interaction with Sunil Gavaskar and Geet Sethi found the highest number of applause and acceptance.

According to both Gavsakar and Sethi, “things have changed for the better for Indian sportsmen. It has become a huge business,” they admitted. Sethi who is also an Arjun award winner besides several national and international billiard championship trophies was critical about the role of the Indian sports ministry saying, “the ministry tramples on the players. You cannot be a champion if you indulge in yesmanship. To set up benchmark in sports the sportsmen have to be self conscious of their game and at the same time set a sense of self-belief for the next generation.”

The moment Gavaskar mentioned the Indian victory over New Zealand in the first test match in the current tour, the audience burst into cheers and a loud applause. According to Gavaskar, “I am confident that whatever it does the present Indian team has the ability to conquer anything.” This he said is answer to Sethi’s idea of self-belief, he said adding the “Indian team has tremendous self belief in itself.”

The two sportsperson, along with the moderator Vijay Amritraj, accepted the fact that “today’s sportsmen were better placed then their counterpart as the present lot had better career option open to them. Their entire mentality has changed towards the game and the profession. They now offer a challenge to get themselves accepted not only in a lucrative position in a top company but also in the game.”

Virendra Sehwag’s blistering knock of a century in 60 balls came for special mention from Gavaskar saying, “this itself shows how professional these younger generation players were. In my days I would open my account after 60 balls,” he said amidst a peel of laughter from the audience. The great Indian opener accepted that “though the equipment used by the present players had undergone a sea change but what was important was the fact that there has been a tremendous change in the attitude towards the game has changed.”

When asked if cricket was taking away most of the funds and the attention, the former Indian captain replied in the affirmative saying, “cricket is one game which has become a passion for any Indian, on and off the field. It is the greatest binding force and a game that generates so much euphoria that it is the ideal pick for any advertiser to market his product. Millions watch the game especially the One-dayers and the new format of T-20. So naturally when you so much of a ready audience it was bound to accept the attention and the funds.”

BY SUDHIR VYAS