The India Economic Summit, convened under the theme, ‘Fostering an Inclusive India through Digital Transformation,’ was jointly organized by CII and the World Economic Forum (WEF) on 6-7 October in New Delhi. Over 500 leaders from Government, business, academia and civil society, from India and overseas, discussed and debated issues of national and regional importance under three key thematic pillars:
- Mastering the Fourth Industrial Revolution: The focus was on India becoming an innovation-driven manufacturing hub, the skills needed in the digital age, digital platforms accelerating skill development, policy-makers and regulators supporting technological development while encouraging innovation, and on balancing private investment in digital infrastructure and content with national policy objectives.
- Driving Sustainable and Equitable Growth: The focus was on identifying ways to ensure food and nutrition security for 1.25 billion Indians, the solutions needed to make India’s growing youth employable, agriculture and land development driving growth while preserving India’s diverse ecosystems, innovative partnership models to help achieve rapid growth in the new and renewable energy sector, and sustainable infrastructure to support the massive wave of urbanization that Indian towns and cities are witnessing.
- Improving the Ease of Doing Business: The focus was on public-private partnership models to help bridge the infrastructure and investment deficit, streamline cooperative federalism, drive labor reforms to build an enabling environment for business, and reduce the burden of regulation for both Government and industry.
The discussions at the Summit recognized that this is an important inflection point for India, where it can ensure that its economic growth is more broad-based and socially inclusive, and also lead from the front on the Fourth Industrial Revolution to benefit its people.
Addressing the opening plenar y, Mr Ranil Wickremesinghe, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, spoke about India and China being the destinations of choice for global manufacturers, and Asia driving economic growth for the rest of the world.
Ms Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Commerce and Industry, India, described the various initiatives and reforms being undertaken by the Government to ensure sustainable growth of 8% for the next two decades.
The discussions at the Summit were steered by the Co-Chairs:
- Anil Agarwal, Executive Chairman,Vedanta Resources, United Kingdom
- Johan C Aurik, Global Managing Partner and Chairman of the Board, AT Kearney, USA
- Gita Gopinath, Professor of Economics, Harvard University, USA
- Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, India
- John Rice, Vice-Chairman, GE, USA
- Vijay Shekhar Sharma, CEO, One97 Communications, India