India is a growth engine even in a slowing economy. Once the financial crisis settles, India will continue to grow at a pace of at least 7%. This was the unanimous view of the high-powered panel at the Deutsche Bank-CII breakfast session on Slowing Global Economy - Challenges and Opportunities for India Inc., held yesterday. While the Indian economy is facing many challenges with some sectors facing a serious slowdown, the long term growth story is robust.
Eric Mindich, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Eton Park Capital Management, USA, listed the political situation, upcoming general elections, taxes, corporate governance, cost of capital resulting from project delays, as issues that affect investment in emerging markets.
Sunil Mittal, Chairman and Group CEO, Bharti Enterprises and Anand Mahindra, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Mahindra and Mahindra and Co-chair of the Annual Meeting, emphasised that despite the fact that the financial crisis had tempered India's growth run, the enormous buying power of India's billion-plus population, the robust savings rate combined with the government's fiscal prudence, would see India achieving reasonably good growth levels. On the forthcoming general elections and their outcome being listed as one of the areas of concern for foreign investors, it was emphasised that although the country has seen many elections and many governments over the last 20 years, the direction has always been only one - that of faster growth. The growth story will remain intact.
Arif Naqvi, Founder and Group CEO, Abraaj Capital, UAE, provided the Middle East investor's view on India. He was of the opinion that no global investor can afford to ignore India's requirements in terms of investment capital. The India story is compelling and will stay that way irrespective of whatever happens in equity markets.
The keynote speaker at the session was Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission. According to him, the rebalancing of growth potential has imposed certain challenges on India, particularly certain sectors. The session was moderated by Anshu Jain, Head of Global Markets and Member of the Goup Executive Committee, Deutsche Bank AG. Over 70 CEOs and board level executives attended the event.
