CII conference stresses on economic reforms in downturn

Posted: Mar 26 2009

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) organized National Conference and Annual Session 09 on the theme _Turning Crisis into Opportunity: The Role of Governance and Reform_ in New Delhi on March 26, 2009.

The first day of the two-day conference addressed various sub-themes like _Turning crisis into opportunity; Global economy and its impact on India: The outlook; The emerging role of public sector in a post crisis economy; Indian economy: reforms required; Governence: What are the reforms required; and Agenda for first 100 days of the new government, etc.

The welcome address at the session was given by CII President Mr. K V Kamath. Some of the other dignitaries invited to address the conference include Prof. C K Prahalad, Paul and Ruth McCracken Distinguished University Professor of Strategy, University of Michigan; Mr. Venu Srinivasan, Vice President, CII; Ms. Manvi Dhillon, Resident Editor & Senior Anchor, NDTV; Dr. Surjit S Bhalla, Managing Director, Oxus Research and Investments; Dr. Janmejaya Sinha, Managing Director - India, The Boston Consulting Group India; Mr. R C Bhargava, Chairman Maruti Suzuki India Ltd; Mr. Ravi Venkatesan, Chairman, Microsoft Corporation India Pvt Ltd; Mr. Jamshyd N Godrej, Chairman and MD, Godrej & Boyce manufacturing Co. Ltd; Mr. Tarun Das, Chief Mentor, CII; Mr. R S Sharma, Chairman & MD, ONGC Ltd; Mr. Sushil Kumar Roongta Chairman, SAIL; Mr. Mukesh Rohatagi, Chairman & MD, Engineers India Ltd; Mr. P S Bhattacharya, Chairman, Coal India Ltd; and many others.

Addressing the theme ,Turning crisis into opportunity: The role of governance and reform, Prof. C K Prahlad said, “Indian business leaders need to reinvent ideas to tackle the current crisis, and they are competent enough to do so. There is a requirement of innovative ideas at all spheres in the corporate sector to come out of the current crisis.""

Prof. Prahlad encouraged business leaders to adopt innovative ideas by referring to some of the success stories of innovative business models like Tata,s Nano, Airtel, Amul Jaipur Rugs, Aravind Eye Care, Jaipur Foot and many others.""

Commenting on the global economy and impacts on India, Dr. Surjit S. Bhalla said, ""The Reserve Bank of India was totally failed to analyze the situation before the meltdown began. Similarly, the market planners were clueless about the depth of this crisis.""

While commenting on the ways to come out of the crisis, Dr. Bhalla said, ""India and China are two countries which are still going to maintain reasonable growth rate. So, methodically, the worst-hit economies can focus on these two countries to pull themselves out from the economic crisis.""

Speaking on the cause and effect relationship of this economic crisis, Mr. R C Bhargava said, ""Industry must recognize cause and effect of the crisis in a logical manner, as it will help in formulating future strategies. Apart from that, the business community needs to be proactive to analyze situations in advance.""

Talking about the recession, Mr. Bhargava said, ""Companies must curtail their unnecessary expenditures in the times of recession. ""We will definitely come out of this economic slowdown by the end of the next year,"" Mr. Bhargava concluded optimistically .