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Distinguished speakers, including India’s Minister of Finance Jayant Sinha, addressed India’s latest reform efforts at the Cornell University Emerging Markets Institute’s fifth annual conference. Entitled “The Modi-fication of the Indian Economy,” the conference was held Oct. 13 at the Cornell University’s Industrial and Labor Relations offices in New York City and attended by Cornell and Johnson alumni, business professionals, and students.
Lourdes Casanova, academic director, Emerging Markets Institute, pointed out the timely nature of the conference, noting new efforts by the U.S. and India to build stronger ties, and citing Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to the U.S. and President Barack Obama’s two visits to India.
Opening remarks were provided by Soumitra Dutta, Anne and Elmer Lindseth Dean and professor of management and organizations, who said the title of the conference was apt in view of the large-scale efforts to transform the Indian economy through a number of ongoing reforms and campaigns.
Throughout the day, conference presenters focused on the themes of Make in India, GDP growth rate, human resources and education challenges, bank and finance reforms, and support for the start-up ecosystem.
Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Finance, Government of India, addressed the audience via videoconference and touched on several of the conference themes. In the area of India’s economic philosophy; he outlined five principles which the government is planning to enact in order to maintain the current rate of 7 percent economic growth. Those included a focus on “pro-poor” policies; a “pro-market” stance which includes the Make in India program designed to keep manufacturing in the country and increase GDP growth and tax revenue; empowerment and opportunities, not entitlements, for Indian citizens.
The fourth area is minimum government, but maximum governance; and fifth, cooperative federalism, which will allow for autonomy of natural resources for individual states in India and create better collaboration between national, state, and local governments.
Sinha says the Indian government recognizes that in order for many of the policies to succeed there needs to be an emphasis on the correct execution of goals. “For the last 10 years working with the government machinery became dysfunctional,” said Sinha. “We’re trying to clean it up from the top to the bottom, but it takes time.”
A panel addressed India’s capital markets, foreign portfolio investment challenges from the past, and opportunities for the future which questioned if the “Make in India” program had been successful since its inception on Sept. 25 last year.
Ray Prasad, lead portfolio manager at TCW Emerging Markets Equities, said it would take years for India to realize progress with Make in India and the success would be reflected in the GDP. “Modi set up a lot of expectations. They think it’s going to happen tomorrow. I haven’t heard anything on the topic of human resources. There is a focus on low-end jobs, which is the wrong emphasis. Education gives you the highest return. We need an educated workforce because the returns from education are evident and we’re not doing enough.”
Tarun Das, former director general, CII, and founder trustee, Ananta Aspen Centre, said he helped build two plants one year ago for the multi-national, JCB, a $1 billion construction equipment firm. The land acquisition was straightforward because the company bought land from the private sector and skilled people were available.
Mukesh Aghi, president, U.S.-India Business Council, said the competition in business is global and there is a need for labor reform in order for Make in India to move forward.
The panel, “Research and Development and Innovation: Opportunities in India,” asked, “Is there much opportunity for startups in India?”
Rustom Desai, MBA ’95, managing director, Corning India, delivered the keynote address at the luncheon and shared the experience of building a Corning plant in India to house 250 employees, over the last five years.
A keynote address was also delivered by Arun Kumar Singh, ambassador of India to the United States who spoke about the importance of building smart cities with adequate waste management, affordable power, improved infrastructure and services.
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