ET Awards' Agenda for Renewal 2011: It's time to get our act right, says Vineet Jain, MD, Times Group

The Economic Times Agenda for Renewal has ignited ideas from across the spectrum, even as it kicked up dust and raised eyebrows, Times Group managing director Vineet Jain said. He was speaking at the ET Awards for Corporate Excellence 2011 on Saturday night.

“The past 20 years of liberalisation have been a reason to cheer, with dramatic growth and improvement across industries. Today, we are at an important crossroads: If we get our act right, we can be one of the top three global economies by 2020. If we get it wrong, it would be a lost decade for India,” he said. It was with this in mind that ET requested six CEOs to draft an Agenda for Renewal, which could then be debated by the Cabinet ministers and other CEOs at the ET Awards.

Jain also pointed out that the government had already sent out a strong pro-reforms signal by opening up retail for foreign direct investment. More such ideas could set the course for the next 20 years, he added, setting the tone for the ensuing discussions between prominent India Inc leaders and three Cabinet ministers.

After a near-collapse of the global financial system in 2008, The Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence is recognising two bankers who have come out stronger after the crisis, he said. Chanda Kochhar, managing director and CEO of ICICI Bank, won the Business Leader of the Year award and Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit won the Global Indian of the Year award.

“Our Lifetime Achievement Award winner (former RBI governor YV Reddy) is widely credited with having the foresight that kept India safe from the global carnage. And we are awarding an airline, an auto major, and a sugar company that have defied market conditions to emerge winners,” he said. Bajaj Auto was the Company of the Year, Rahul Bhatia of IndiGo was the Entrepreneur of the Year and Shree Renuka Sugars was the Emerging Company of the Year.