Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi hosted its annual conclave on the 30th of September at The Ashoka, New Delhi. This year the theme of the conclave was “Resurgence of India growth story”. The conclave brought together many eminent personalities from varied sectors in both government and private fields, and provided valuable insights through stimulating discussions. The event was attended by the faculty and students of the Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi.[/b]
The conclave began with the lighting of the traditional lamp by Prof. Raj S Dhankar, Dean, FMS Delhi. The Dean warmly welcomed the panellists, faculty and the students. [/b]
Professor Dhankar’s proud announcement of FMS Delhi as the 5th best management institution in a recent survey was met by an enthusiastic applause.[/b]
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The dean then opened the discussion by talking about how the recession in the US affected India and how we managed to cope with it. He also talked about the reforms of 1991 and the economic growth they lead to. Professor Dhankar was of the opinion that real resurgence will happen when we look more inwards in terms of policy making and reforms.[/b]
The Conclave was divided into two distinct panels. The first panel featured eminent bureaucrats as speakers. They were Arun Kumar Jain, Member Secretary, National Human Rights Commission, Dr. Vijailakshmi Gupta, Former Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Finance Division, Shri Niranjan Pant, Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Dr. Archana Mathur, Economic Advisor, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dr Subhash Chandra Pandey, Joint Secretary and Financial Advisor, Ministry of Defence [/b]
The first speaker of the day was Dr. Pandey. He spoke about the growth of our economy and the distribution issues. According to Dr. Pandey, growth is not well spread across sectors, regions and classes. The service sector has been growing tremendously whereas the agricultural sector is “the Achilles Heel”. Hence the real resurgence would require a lot of changes in this sector. He also spoke about ecological concerns, real estate issues, and problems of internal security. Adding to his thoughts, Dr. Archana Mathur, began by giving an overview of the Petroleum and Natural Gas sector and discussed India’s dependence on oil imports which continue to be more than 75% of the total consumption. She went on to discuss the NELP( New Exploration Licensing Policy) and the demand and pricing of petroleum products and how investment in this sector can play a major role in helping India write its resurgence story.[/b]
Arun Kumar Jain of the National Human Rights Commission spoke about partnerships between public and private domains (PPP model) and how these partnerships would be the building blocks of major investments in the development of the nation. He also discussed the social aspect of growth and the role of businesses in corporate social responsibility. He stated that media has a very critical role to play in development as it is pivotal for the dissemination of the relevant information and provides a mirror to the conditions of the society and its emancipation.[/b]
[/b]The post-lunch part of the conclave featured the second panel, which consisted of distinguished personalities of the corporate world from various sectors. They were Mr Raj Hosahalli, Executive Director – AAC (Advanced Analytic Consulting), Nielsen India, Mr. Piyush Garg, Executive Vice President ICICI Securities Ltd, Mr Saurabh Kumar, Director, Deloitte, Dr Anil Chawla, Global HR head, Tata Consultancy Services , Kamakshmi Raman, GM (HR), SAIL, Arvind Mathur, Chairman, Private Equity Pro Partners, Mr. Anurag Saxena ,Managing Director, Linkcoz Ltd.[/b]
Presenting the corporate opinion on the theme, the first speaker was Mr. Piyush Garg of ICICI securities ltd. He started by saying that understanding economics is crucial to making long term decisions. He stated that India needs to break out from the deficits and get into the zone of surpluses. He then discussed how the European countries are reducing their fiscal deficits and compared the global economy to the Indian economy. He discussed how the Chinese economy has an effect on the Indian economy and how we can make it a mutually beneficial phenomenon instead of looking upon it as a threat.
Mr Raj Hosahalli started by discussing India’s demographics and gave his valuable insights on how to best reach the customers. He discussed the needs and preferences of the young generation in India which compromises of the majority of the population and how fulfilling their demands would determine the drivers of the future.
Mr Saurabh Kumar stated that we lack consensus in politics and in industry. We Indians are good at recognising problems, but not at implementing solutions, he said. Hence, a whole attitudinal shift is required which would convert us from complainers to doers for a sustainable growth story.
Dr Anil Chawla gave a very insightful talk on IT infrastructure and an overview of Tata Consultancy Services. He discussed internal and external triggers for economic imbalance. He talked about the need to revamp our existing outsourcing models and how IT would still play a major role in spearheading the resurgence.
Ms Kamakshmi Raman of SAIL talked of the demographic advantage that India has due to the vast population of people below 25 years. She discussed the importance of HR in developing an industry and stressed that PSUs offer an equally challenging work environment as any other company and youngsters should consider contributing to the nation from the public offices as well.
Mr Arvind Mathur encouraged the students to try and be entrepreneurs. He advised them to do an internship with a start-up to see how companies start their operations at a grass root level. He emphasised that a strong entrepreneurial spirit will ensure that we keep growing as a nation.
The final speaker, Mr. Anurag Saxena talked of looking beyond just the clichéd countries which we do business with and encouraged the students to look at the whole continent of Africa which can provide huge opportunities. He discussed various issues from the African economy perspective and how it co-relates with India.
With these enriching perspectives from across the spectrum about the resurgence story of India, interspersed by the questions and injunctions of the audience, the conclave came to an end. The students of FMS Delhi thanked the panellists for the very interactive and enlightening session.
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