It was a stellar panel, to say the least.
Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog; Amitabh Chaudhry, MD & CEO, Axis Bank; Sanjiv Bajaj, President, CMD, Bajaj Finserv; Adar Poonawalla, CEO, Serum Institute of India & TV Narendran, MD & CEO, Tata Steel.
In an exclusive conversation with Rahul Kanwal, News Director, India Today and Aajtak at the World Economic Forum at Davos, the top honchos of India Inc spoke on a wide range of issues from the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, inflation and the advantages that India has amid global trade tensions.
Inflation a concern but India story still intact
TV Narendran, MD & CEO, Tata Steel: While inflation is a concern, and I think the central banks are acting against it. But I think the fundamental long-term story is still very strong. And given the disruptions in China because of COVID protocols, I think there's greater interest in India from what I hear from the potential investors in Davos for instance, they look at India as a market they can scale up, a market where you can source from, so I think the medium term and long-term story is very strong. And I think people will continue to invest in India because of the potential demand in India
Why China +1? India will be the one
Sanjiv Bajaj, President, CMD, Bajaj Finserv: You will see a period of slowdown. And it's not only limited to India, we are part of the global network. We are seeing this happening around the world. India has once again a huge opportunity where short term combination of exports, China plus one. With medium to long term, we can be the one we don't have to be China plus one. The world has realised that from far sourcing to near sourcing the world now wants is sure sourcing. India can be the sure base.
No competition to India
Adar Poonawalla, CEO, Serum Institute of India: As soon as things stabilise, as soon as that confidence comes back, there's of course, no competition to India… We are definitely the preferred destination, given our regulatory reforms, and our environment and the market and all of that. Having said that, I think… because of the war, partly and because of this fear of, you know, another wave coming, yes, they have held back, but if you wait for perhaps a year, or maybe less than that, you've got all the measures that government is taking to contain inflation… In about seven to eight months, I see a complete change or hope to see a complete change in the investment.
India focused on future areas of growth
Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog: The important thing is that India must get into sunrise areas of growth because that's where the global values are going to be created. And this is the first time India is making this paradigm shift to completely new emerging areas of growth and getting into technologies which will be the future drivers of growth. So, I'm absolutely confident that PLI will really drive India into the manufacturing era, but it's important to understand that India must fire on all cylinders. It's not just services, it is not just manufacturing, but agriculture as well… the start-ups are disrupting in a manner which we've never seen before.
Impact of Fed rate hikes on India?
Amitabh Chaudhry, MD & CEO, Axis Bank: Dollar is strengthening against every currency because of the fact that the Fed has announced proactive aggressive rate hikes. They're also withdrawing liquidity. But I think it's a temporary phenomenon, the moment they get it under control in the next 12-14 months, they will stabilise and the money again has to go searching for the right returns. India does offer itself as a destination where you can make safe returns for a long period of time.