Last week, the annual CBS conference on business in india happened. CEOs and experts from a variety of fields that do work in India spoke and it was, for Bwog India Correspondent Max Rettig, an excellent experience. Read on for his views on the conference.

Columbia Business School’s annual India Business Conference, a day-long program about India’s business climate, took place this past Friday. This year’s event featured a lineup of very distinguished people, including MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga, Accion CEO Michael Schlein, Professor and Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz, and Deputy Director of the India Planning Commission Dr. Montek Ahluwalia. The day was filled with presentations, panels, networking opportunities and food. But most importantly, the day was filled with discussion of India’s successes, its shortcomings and ideas on how to realize its seemingly limitless potential.

The conference started at 9 am with an introduction by Dr. Gita Johar, the Senior Vice Dean of the B-School. Her main point was the issue of creativity and dynamism. She talked about constraints on innovation and how they can spark a type of reverse creativity (think of architects making the most of really small spaces). Teams need to be changed up in order to keep different ideas flowing. She specifically mentioned that companies with women in a top-level position leads to success that other companies don’t have, a common theme in the news lately. Alas, Dean Johar gave the podium to Dr. Ahluwalia.

Dr. Ahluwalia began by mentioning the upcoming election in India and how the results will shape forthcoming economic policy. Much of what he discussed was India’s investment and business planning, especially regarding growth, which India needs. He stressed that the inequality gap is still too big, a theme that would be prominent in Professor Stiglitz’s address later in the morning. He put out the figure of 7-8 percent growth in the next year as a possibility if the new government implements the right policies. Finally, Dr. Ahluwalia talked about India and convergence (the idea that developed countries experience slow growth while developing countries enjoy faster growth) before opening up to questions. Much of these questions centered on India’s financial structure, venture capital and foreign direct investment (FDI – other countries’ placement of resources in India). Dr. Ahluwalia specifically brought up India’s concerning tax rates and policies as being prohibitive to business, while an attendee mentioned the trickle-down theory in India’s social strata. The address was very financially focused, making for interesting and frank discussion of India’s economic state and how to improve it.

The next segment of the conference involved a panel of chefs, TV personalities and restaurant owners talking about the rise of Indian cuisine as both a world staple and a successful business. Moderator Ashok Vasudevan, the CEO of TastyBites (those one-minute microwave packages of Punjab Eggplant), led by mentioning certain “megatrends” in Indian cuisine, such as health and convenience; each panelist then had three minutes to speak. TV personality Rashmi Singh mentioned the rise of Indian restaurants on top-ten lists and in awards. Panelists Zoravar Kalra (restaurant owner), Hemant Oberoi (lead chef, Taj Hotels), Rajesh Bhardwaj (Junoon NYC) and Payal Saha (The Kati Roll Company) each brought their own perspectives to the discussion, talking about the expanding perception of the food, modernization and authentication, the fundamentals of the cuisine and the passion and effort that goes into the food. Speaking of food, the smells of Indian dishes started pervading the air as the panel finished and the organizers set up for lunch.

Before lunch,  2001 Nobel Laureate and Columbia professor Joseph Stiglitz spoke, mostly about economic inequality. Prof. Stiglitz began by telling the audience that India has been a great success the past 10 years, especially as an emerging market. The prevailing theme of the speech was a comparison between India and the United States, and it worked well. Prof. Stiglitz brought up the trickle-down theory, noting that it failed with Reagan in the ‘80s and that is a bad system for India. The American dream, Stiglitz said, is a myth, comparing it to India’s current situation of economic immobility, a somewhat depressing, but increasingly true, idea. Prof. Stiglitz also brought up GDP (Gross Domestic Product) as an inadequate measure of real-world economic performance, stating that median income is a better indicator. This notion manifests itself in the fact that America is the most economically unequal first-world country. Prof. Stiglitz then switched directions and brought up money issues and tax reform, claiming that India needs revenue. India’s wealthy store, and increase, their wealth in foreign lands to avoid taxes. Aforementioned tax reform for direct investment can lure investors and encourage the wealthy to keep their money in India. Finally, Prof. Stiglitz brought up trade agreements and regulations as an issue, but the audience, including myself, grew hungrier and more impatient and so Stiglitz surrendered to the aroma of Basmati rice.

After lunch, Vik Malhotra (Chairman at McKinsey) took the podium for what would be an engaging keynote address. He began by showing that 25 percent of the world population under age 25 is Indian, and that about 16 million Indians graduate college per year, among other positive things. Malhotra then flipped the switch and presented some pretty sobering information:
• India’s GDP is decreasing
• 270 million are under the poverty line
• India comes in at just 139 out of 187 countries in human development
• 26 percent of the population cannot read or write.
Malhotra then launched into his main feature,  the five “I’s” of India’s improvement. After showing a picture of a crumbling road, which Malhotra said was common in India, he addressed infrastructure, saying that India needs to invest in world-class roads. He talked about innovation, telling India to create and nurture the entrepreneurial spirit. Inequality, Malhotra said, needs to be eliminated. The fourth “I,” independence, resembled India’s system of individual states. Malhotra’s last “I” stood for inefficiency, another bad thing that needs to be gotten rid of. For evidence, ponder these sort-of-insane stats:
• 134/189 in ease of doing business ranking
• 1420 days to get through the court system and enforce a contract
• 182 days to get permits for construction and other activities (talk about red tape)
• 90 percent of every dollar lost to corruption
The title of Malhotra’s presentation was “Reimagining India”; it seems only fitting after the facts he put out.

Several entrepreneurs took the stage for a panel on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Speakers included Lux Narayan (founder and CEO, Unmetric), Mukund Mohan (Director, Microsoft Ventures Accelerator, India), Vinodh Bhat (CEO, Saavn), Prasad Malmandi (Director, ESPN Cricinfo) and Nihal Mehta (partner, Eniac).  The conversation included start-up culture in both India and America, with the idea being “fall on your face” culture. This is to say that American start-up culture embraces failure (falling on your face is falling forward), while in India failure is akin to social disgrace, and the failure rate is seven to eight times the norm. The panelists got interactive when they presented this question: “You have a 50 percent chance of exiting the market at 20 million, 30 percent chance of exiting at 50 million and 2 percent chance of exiting at 1 billion. What’s your choice?” The audience showed mixed responses for each option. What’s your choice? Let me know in the comment section below. 

Finally, the conference came to its most highlighted segment as MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga and Accion CEO Michael Schlein took their seats for a “fireside” chat. Mr. Schlein’s company, Accion, is a nonprofit microfinance firm. Mr. Banga and Mr. Schlein discussed the fact that the U.S. system of checking credit history works against people who don’t have a financial identity or those without credit to their name. The duo also talked about wealth inequality and its danger to the economy. Mr. Banga was quoted at the China Economic Forum as warning to not let the rich get richer. His reasoning makes a lot of sense; at some point, those with the means to buy endlessly stop buying because well, they run out of room in their house for another home theater and their garage can’t hold another Ferrari. Broadening the distribution of cash and wealth ensures that there is always the exchange of money between consumer and producer. In addition, the pair of execs also pointed out facts about digital payment, big data, the need for hyper-security on the web (11,000 hack attempts on MasterCard per day), and phones as vehicles for finding out peoples’ credit histories. Mr. Banga and Mr. Schlein’s conversation was an informative and engaging talk about inclusionary growth, inequality and the potential future of finance that I thoroughly enjoyed.

I caught up with Mr. Banga at a post-conference reception and asked him to explain his job; he said “50 percent of my job as CEO is creating a clear vision that everyone in my company can understand, repeat that vision with patience and consistency, and measure progress against that vision. The other 50 percent is empowering my employees to take risks and succeed.” Attending this conference was a privilege; the speakers and presentations erased my preconceived notion of India as a country, showing me the inner economic, social and legal forces both holding India back and pushing it forward. The conference as a whole, while long and a bit tiring, was informative, inspiring, and an advantageous social opportunity. The majority of the audience were upperclassmen, visitors and professionals; I believe that everyone could greatly benefit from hearing from and even meeting such distinguished people, and I highly recommend, and look forward to, next year’s conference.

Famous, accomplished people via India Business Conference/Maulshree Gangwar