The Monroe Street Journal

Issue date: 11/9/09 Section: Features

Mr. Arun Shourie, the Former Minister of Communication & IT and a renowned economist, summed up India's opportunities and challenges by quoting what the head of ABB Group had once said: "It is not enough to be better today than yesterday; you have to be better than all alternatives". While delivering the keynote address at the 1st Ross India Business conference at the University of Michigan, Mr. Shourie mentioned that there were symptoms of changed perceptions about India from being an outsourcing hub for cheap labor to an innovation and economic hub with enormous possibilities of collaboration. He said that the key to growing a business in an emerging market is to appeal to the pride of the people, rather than using them, so that there is a cry for more open government policies that would come from among the masses itself due to the value delivered. He cited defense, education and environmental technologies as the sectors which held a lot of promise for investment in India.

After a directional speech by Mr. Shourie, the second day of the conference began with Prof. C K Prahalad being felicitated by the Indian alumni, who joined through video conference, for receiving Padma Bhushan. Prof. Prahalad keynote speech talked about seeing innovative possibilities in places that otherwise conveys despair. He quoted R.A. Mashlekar's "Less for More for More people" as a way to think about business. He introduced the story of British Petroleum India Energy Ltd's "BP Oorja", a smokeless stove running on bio-fuels which is helping villages who otherwise use coal-black and is improving profits for the company. "Innovations in Constraints" was the theme he ran all through the presentation. Prof. Prahalad unveiled his plan "India at 75" as a vision for the future and predicted that 'Economic Strength', 'Technical Vitality' and 'Moral Leadership' would be cornerstones on which India's future should be built. He urged the businesses to "Fold the future in" and dictated "Excitement, Energy, Empowerment and Engagement" as the success mantra for doing business in emerging markets.

This inspiring speech was followed by a panel discussion titled "Bird of Gold" where we saw a lot of Prof. Prahalad's ideas at work. Mr. Manoj Kohli, CEO - Bharati Airtel, elaborated on the building of the Airtel brand and how the company was delivering superlative return on equity, while providing services at a very low price to consumers. He was followed by Mr. Rajiv Dube, President (Passenger Car Division) - Tata Motors, who talked about the journey of the design of Tata Nano and Tata's commitment to deliver excellence. His presentation showed Prof. Prahalad's "Innovations in Constraints" theory at work. He was followed by Mr. N. Balaji, President - ITC (North America), who talked about ITC's work with the bottom of the pyramid and how it was benefiting the consumers and the company. He shared strategies to develop companies with zero emission and resource usage footprints.

The next panel was aptly titled "The Next Big Deal" and dealt with private equity investment in India. Mr. Gopal Srinivasan, Chairman - TVS Capital Funds, Mr. Subbu Subramanian, Co-Founder - Barings Private Equity Partners India and Mr. Raghuveer Mendu, General Partner- Ventureast talked about private equity and venture capital in India. They elaborated on the investment opportunities and the focus areas in India. The discussion also revolved around the difference in India as a market and how venture capital and private equity worked as a continuum to invest in businesses in various stages of development.

The conference attracted alumni and industry experts from all over Michigan who were interested in India and in emerging economies. The audience was a good mix of students, alumni, entrepreneurs and academics from the field of law, public policy, healthcare and business.

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