Samanvay ’10 : A Confluence of Thoughts
‘Resurgence of the Indian Economy’
Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS) has always been synonymous with high quality management education and generations of managers who hold positions of great responsibility in the industry, today epitomize the traditional and proactive culture of the institute. JBIMS is habituated to bringing the best of the industry to the student community and vice versa, with ‘Samanvay’ being the perfect platform to serve this purpose. ‘Samanvaya confluence of thoughts’ is the Annual Corporate Symposium of JBIMS wherein prominent business personalities come to share their thoughts on significant topics, with the managers of tomorrow. Learning from people of immense stature serves as a catalyst to the process of igniting a change in the world through an exchange of ideas and Samanvay thereby facilitates this process.
This year the theme for Samanvay ‘10 was “Resurgence of the Indian Economy”. This theme perfectly reflected the mood of India’s economy which has just passed through a critical phase and thereby the onus now is on the next generation managers to come up with innovative ideas and solutions to further India’s growth.
Samanvay’10 continued with the legacy of hosting oracles of the industry by inviting Ms. Roopa Kudva, MD and CEO, CRISIL and Mr. Sreeram Iyer, COO, Standard Chartered Bank, India to share their views at the symposium.
The symposium was flagged off by Ms. Roopa Kudva sharing her invaluable insights on the topic. In addition to being the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of CRISIL, India’s leading ratings, research, risk and policy advisory company and a subsidiary of Standard & Poor's , she is also the Region Head, South Asia, Standard & Poor’s, the foremost global provider of financial market intelligence.
She began with discussing the future outlook of the world economy. She said that the industry experts had a positive outlook in terms of growth as the current expected rate is 4.8% which is 20 bps above the previous estimate. But she pointed out the fact that still there are certain countries had not completely revered from the global economic slowdown, taking examples of weak consumption in the US, debt problems that persist in Europe and also Japan which is grappling with the unwinding of fiscal stimulus and a sluggish labour market.
She stressed on the fact that despite the global economic slowdown, for the first time, Asia was leading the recovery. India’s growth rate is expected to climb to 8.2 per cent in 2010-11 even as stimulus is being withdrawn and also India’s GDP is set to triple in less than 10 years from $1.2 trillion US to $ 5.3 trillion US in 2020. Looking at the future of the Indian economy, it is expected that Indian companies will enter into new business avenues with promising opportunities. With the increasing integration of the Indian economy with the global economy, the degree of competition is likely to intensify and MNC’s will play a very important role in many sectors in India. Ms. Kudva ended with extensive discussion with the students about the bullish growth story of India.
The other luminary who shared his words of wisdom was Mr. Sreeram Iyer. He is the Regional Chief Operating Officer, India & South Asia, Standard Chartered Bank. Being a C.O.O., his responsibilities include governance of key bank functions including Group Technology and Operations, Compliance and Assurance, Corporate Affairs, and Corporate Real Estate Services.
Mr. Iyer began by providing examples of icons such as Mr. Sunil Mittal and Mr. Dhirubhai Ambani who contributed largely to the Indian growth story. They faced a lot of ups and downs while starting with their ventures but succeeded in the end to become what they are at present because of the unflagging will power and determination within them. With the booming Indian economy and with the position of India improving on the global scenario, everyone now speaks about the term ‘resurgence’ but what is more important at this point is to note whether our nation is moving towards improvement by quantity alone or by inclusive development. We must realise that it is important for us to know our past in detail as it would give us a better picture of what mistakes we had made then and how we should progress now.
He stressed on the fact that the potential for growth in India is very high. The demographics show that the average age of an Indian is 29 years as against 37 years and 48 years for China and Japan respectively. This means that India is one of the youngest Asian countries which would benefit from its demographics as compared to other developing and developed countries. A new vibrant, dynamic population ensures an urge for innovations and a desire to work hard. Also, tax reductions, deregulation of certain sectors, reduction in caps on FDI and FII inflow helps in the faster growth of the nation. He ended with a very informative question and answer session and thereafter he shared a thought which often inspired him, i.e ‘We should be like fireflies, having the fire of enthusiasm burning within us and continuously motivating us to improve ourselves.’
The event was a highly interactive one and at the same time, of immense value to the budding managers who were present in large numbers. Such sessions from the Industry stalwarts are bound to inculcate a sense of motivation amongst the students. On the whole, Samanvay ’10 exceeded all expectations and will surely be an event that will be imbedded in everyone’s minds for the years to come.