India Inc on Wednesday launched its biggest ever campaign to tell the world that the country, with its vibrant democracy, strong economy and cultural diversity, has arrived on the global economic scene.
The 'India Everywhere' campaign, costing about Rs 17 crore, will project India at the ongoing annual meeting of the World Economic Forum as a country with strong growth potential and opportunities for foreign investors.
To explain why the campaign was being launched, more than half-a-dozen top Indian businessmen were engaged in an interaction with a cross-section of the international media.
Those who represented India Inc included Rahul Bajaj, chairman of Bajaj Auto, YC Deveshwar, chairman of ITC and president of the Confederation of Indian Industry, Nandan Nilekani, CEO, president and managing director of Infosys, Baba Kalyani, chairman and managing director of Bharat Forge, KV Kamath, managing director and CEO of ICICI Bank, Jamshyd N Godrej, chairman and managing director of Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Company, Ajit Gulabchand, chairman of Hindustan Construction, Malvinder Mohan Singh, president-pharmaceuticals of Ranbaxy Laboratories and Nikhil Meswani, executive director of Reliance Industries.
The exercise was kicked off by Bajaj who said India was growing at a rate of 7 percent. India could do with better infrastructure, less red tape and labour reforms. But, in spite of these problems, the growth momentum of the Indian economy was on the rise, he said.
Deveshwar said one of India's biggest opportunities was to convert its huge rural population into a market that could be tapped by businesses. As the second largest recipient of private equity in Asia, India had proved to the world that it had the depth of entrepreneurship to exploit business opportunities, he added.
Nilekani, who steered the 'India Everywhere' campaign, said it was an example of public-private partnership as the ministry of tourism and the Indian corporate sector had collaborated in this venture.
For him, raising the awareness about India as a brand, driving more foreign investment into India and increasing India's tourism will be the three goals that he will like to achieve through the 'India Everywhere' campaign.
Kalyani, who made several overseas acquisitions, including one in China, was confident of the fundamental change that had taken place in Indian companies' mindset. He cited technology and skilled manpower as the key areas of strength for the Indian industry.
Kamath referred to the knowledge revolution in India which, combined with a consumer boom, had brought India back on the global scene. The next challenge, Kamath said, was to convert rural India, with 600 million population, as a viable market.
The inevitable comparison of India with China also came up for discussion. There were differing views on this.
While Kalyani said Indian companies had, by now, neutralised their cost disadvantages vis-à-vis China, Malvinder M. Singh said India and China were coming closer to each other, which was a positive development.
Gulabchand pointed out that the key difference between India and China was infrastructure, but he hoped that India would catch up on that in the next 10 years.
