India is going to be a superpower: Keith Vaz

A Correspondent in New Delhi

Keith Vaz, Member of Parliament, United Kingdom, foresees India as a superpower very soon.

"India is going to be superpower. It must, however, provide the right environment for business to develop so that it can firm up its place as a world leader," said Vaz at the India Economic Summit 2002 in New Delhi on Tuesday.

The summit has been organised jointly by the Confederation of Indian Industry and the World Economic Forum.

Vaz was speaking at a session on 'Envisioning India in 20 years: A view from abroad.' Economic liberalisation in India, said Vaz, had seen great leaps in the last 10 years though a high degree of regulation still remained.

He pushed for a greater public-private partnership for faster growth. Vaz felt that there should be more visits from leading Indian politicians to the developed countries of the West, including UK, so that the world can know about the reforms happening in India.

Lord Charles Powell of Bayswater, co-chair of the India Economic Summit 2002 and chairman, Sagitta Asset Management, UK, visualised India as it was 20 years ago and then outlined the great leaps it had made since then.

India, he said, has moved from being a closed socialist economy to one favouring extreme liberalisation, with a growth rate that has increased from 3 per cent to a steady 5.5-6 per cent over the years and most of the Fortune 500 companies are active in India.

All these, he said were amazing changes which had changed the attitudes of the world business community and the world at large, towards India.

Twenty years hence, Lord Powell envisioned India as a country with high living standards, more substantial middle class, a consumer's society, a provider of world-class services with outstanding quality. He envisioned India as a member of G8 in the very near future.

Comparing China to India, Lord Powell said that Chinese were very good in business but had a low profile and did not gel into the social set up of the countries they were in. Indians, on the other hand, assimilate into the society quickly and play a major and increasingly important role in the politics and administration of the country they settle down in.

He envisioned Indians as playing a major role in the world business. The downside, as seen by Lord Powell, was the slow pace of reforms, communal disharmony, possibility of a nuclear exchange with Pakistan and excessive government interface with business.

He suggested reforms to the political process that would enable quick decision making within the government.

Georges Ugeux, group executive vice-president, New York Stock Exchange, was of the opinion that India undermines its strengths. Ugeux outlined people and cultural heritage as the two major strengths of India.

He said India will not reach 8 per cent growth unless it focuses on the growth of the internal market. He was amazed that in a country where 27 per cent of the population was engaged in agriculture, there were no agro-elementary industries.

He recommended setting up of agro-elementary industry to develop the rural sector. He also emphasised the necessity to build up infrastructure if India aims to reach 8 per cent growth.

For the growth of infrastructure, he emphasised the need for strong government-private partnership. Most importantly, Ugeux highlighted the necessity of creating a vibrant capital market saying, "Create and originate the financial resources for growth."

Piers Cumberlege, vice-president, Bombardier International, US described infrastructure as the driver of economic growth in any country.

India, said Cumberlege, must work towards attracting private capital in the infrastructure sector, especially roads and aviation.

He was impressed by the growth of private sector in India, especially with the progress that had been made in the manufacturing sector. Talking about the improvements required, he highlighted the need to deregulate the system further and to increase the pace of reforms.

The session was introduced and moderated by Mr. Arun N Maira, chairman, Boston Consulting Group. In his introductory remarks, he asked the panelists to give their views on what India needs to do to become a leading country in the next 20 years and what can be done to improve the perception of India internationally.

Maira summed up the session by saying that the role of business is to develop a better image of India and for this he asked the multinationals in India to become the voice of India, become the ambassadors of future growth of foreign direct investments in India.