National Conclave on nine years of Union Government witnesses elaborate panel discussion on India: Surging Ahead
Businesses require decisive leadership and
after a long time we have a leader who is recognised as a global leader &
one who is determined to make India a developed nation: Sunil Bharti Mittal
India stood out in tackling COVID crisis due to masterful management by Prime
Minister Shri Narendra Modi: Sangita Reddy
Union Government has shown to imagine the impossible and deliver it effectively
and this is the real performance index of this government: Surjit Bhalla
JAM trinity programme has enabled us to take banking to the grassroot level: Debjani
Ghosh
On completion of 9 Years of the
Union Government, a National Conclave was organised by the Ministry of
Information and Broadcasting with the theme “9 Years of Seva, Sushasan, Garib
Kalyan” at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. As part of the Conclave, three thematic
sessions were held with esteemed panellists to discuss various achievements of
the Union Government under the decisive leadership of Prime Minister Narendra
Modi and the persistent efforts being undertaken by the Government for rapid
advancement of the nation and betterment of masses. The first session was on
the theme 'India: Surging Ahead'. The session elucidated how India has
undergone a remarkable transformation into a prominent global leader under the
able leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The session was moderated by eminent journalist, Nitin
Gokhale and featured distinguished speakers from different walks of life,
including Sunil Bharti Mittal, Founder Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, Sangita
Reddy, Joint Managing Director, Apollo Hospital, Debjani Ghosh, President
NASSCOM, Shri Surjit Bhalla, former Executive Director for IMF India, Soumya
Kanti Ghosh Group Chief Economic Advisor, State Bank of India and Deepa Sayal,
Founder and President of Indian Women Institutional League (IWIL) India.
Gokhale,
setting the backdrop for the session said, “India has embarked on a path of
transformation which has not been seen for decades together and India stock has
risen globally”. He said “Morgan Stanley said in November 2022 that this is
going to be India’s Decade. IMF in April, 2023 predicted India will emerge as
the fastest growing economy in the world. India is surging and taking a lead in
balancing the world order and therefore this conclave could not have come at a
better time.”
Sunil Bharti Mittal, talking about the decade of
good governance under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said that we have all
experienced and seen the difference in the past few years. He said businesses
require decisive leadership and after a long period of time we have a leader
who is recognised as a global leader and one determined to make India a
developed nation. Talking about telecom sector, he said India has the fastest
5G rollout and by March, 2024, India will have 5G across every nook and cranny
of the country. He added that “Government has used the power of technology to
its utmost advantage for ushering in the reforms and benefits to the masses of
the country”. He said we have seen fantastic 9 years and the audacious target
of 5 trillion-dollar economy which looked like a difficult task a few years
back is now in sight and we should be able to achieve it by 2027.
Sangita Reddy, Joint Managing Director, Apollo
Hospital, spoke about how India made extensive and effective plan to fight the
COVID Pandemic. She said our country stood out in tackling a crisis which wiped
out many countries and it was due to the masterful management of the situation
by our Prime Minister and the Government. She praised the People’s curfew which
provided the time and space for the necessary infrastructure to be put in place
and helped in tackling the pandemic effectively. Talking about the COVID
Vaccines, she said “its commendable and reflective of India and our Prime
Minister’s Global thought process that 50% of world’s vaccines were
manufactured in India and it created a vaccine diplomacy on an unprecedented
scale”. She said Government’s approach was “well-coordinated, fantastically
masterminded strategy which was powerfully executed”. She further added that
“the foundation is well set in India and not only can India take care of its
own people well but has become the medical tourism destination of the world,
currently we are number 4 but I believe that soon we will be number 2”. She
urged the youngsters to use Yoga, Ayush and take care of their health as India
has a great future ahead and it lies with the younger Generation.
Surjit Bhalla, former Executive Director for IMF
India, at the very onset said India has emerged as the best performing economy
in the world during the shocking COVID period and today. Talking about the
poverty reduction he said, “the entire process of government was geared towards
ensuring that the bottom half of the population at least did not suffer any
hardship as a consequence of COVID”. He spoke about the infrastructure
transformation and said he is working on a study to see whether there is any economy
in the world that has shown such a transformation in the last 9 years. He added
that this government has shown to first, imagine the impossible and second,
deliver it effectively and this is the real performance index of this
government. He said Indian innovation is truly unique, Indian and better than
any country in the world and books will be written about the speed of the
transformation of India.
Debjani Ghosh, President NASSCOM said in 2008 only
17% Indians had bank accounts and a study said it would take India 46 years to
achieve 80% penetration but India took just 7 years to do it. Why India could
do it and disrupt status quo is due to technology, Aadhar, India stack, Digital
Payment and the most genius financial inclusion program Jan Dhan Yojana. She
said “the JAM trinity programme has enabled us to take banking to the grassroot
level. Technology is available to all but what made the difference in India was
the talent, the people which enabled us to challenge the status quo. 245
billion dollar revenue is what our tech industry generates and pace of growth
and innovation is unprecedented and is being driven by talent which has made
India an innovation hub and a startup hub”. She asserted that the ‘I’ in
innovation stands for India., it has brought all big companies to do their
innovation in India. She further added that “technology had been a luxury of
the rich and urban but India turned this on its head and started from the
grassroots and scaled it up. Ability to think bottoms up has made it possible”.
She said 36% of the 5.3 million people working in tech sector are women and
they are driving the change and innovation.
Deepa Sayal, Founder and President of Indian Women
Institutional League (IWIL) India said she is very proud that my nation is
changing at such pace and the pace and scale at which the government is
bringing change praise worthy and immaculate. She stated that “Morgan Stanley
has said our GDP will double to 7.5 trillion dollars by the end of the decade
which is huge”. She said I have been lucky to be able to go to various states
and connect with Startups, and women and children all are so charged up to
begin and be self-employed. She talked about the phenomenal journey of startup
that have increased from 450 in 2016 to 90000 startups in 2023 and said she
must congratulate Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for this.
Soumya Kanti Ghosh, Group Chief Economic Advisor,
State Bank of India talking about the key numbers said “COVID was the largest
disruption for mankind but last year our nominal GDP expanded by 37 trillion.
FY 2014 - 20 our average was 14.5 trillion so we did 2.5 times more than
last 6 years that’s why recovery was fastest. Talking about 5 Trillion Dollar
Economy goal, he said India took 57 years to get to 1 trillion and then every 7
years we added 1 trillion and now norm is every three years we add one trillion
and in the last two years our economy added 750 billion and that is why in 2014
we were 10th largest economy, in
2015 we are 7th, in 2019 we were 6th and 2022 we were 5th and supposed to be 4th in 2026 and 3rd in 2028 and this is the transition
in terms of rebound”. He talked about various schemes of the Union government
and informed that women involvement has been very high in all of them and it
has led to women empowerment and financial freedom. He said our service exports
have doubled in past 7 years. Summing up he said that all numbers point out
towards an India which is inclusive and expanding at an exponential rate.
In conclusion, all spoke about what is next for
India in the coming 5-10 years.
Deepa Sayal said employability is
an opportunity and a challenge and we need to inculcate the right skill set to
tap this opportunity.
Debjani Ghosh said the power of
youth, talent, and innovation will ensure that when the world thinks digital,
technology and innovation the world will think of India.
Sunil Mittal said “the foundation
for a very bright future for our country has been laid in the last 9 years and
we need to build on what we need to do. This is a rare opportunity for India
with a confluence of a decision leadership and strong tailwinds and it is a
delightful position for India, and we need to ensure good education, training
and skilled for our large young population which will together ensure a bright
future for India”.
Sangeeta Reddy said last 9 years
is 468 weeks and over 500 schemes launched so 1 scheme every week and we have
the time to guide these schemes over next 10 years. She praised Prime Minister Modi
for promoting women led development and said the respect for women is going to
be transformational for India and set an example for the world. In terms of
thought and spiritual and humane leadership India is and will always be number
one.
Surjit Bhalla said a lot has been
achieved and a major reform that India needs is in Direct Taxation and
concluded by saying the India is one of the most overtaxed economies in the
world and hoped that a reform will come to lower the effective tax rate which
will help in achieving a higher GDP Growth Rate.