ET GBS 2018: Business world's big daddies will descend on Delhi today, PM Modi to lead star cast

NEW DELHI: Keynote address by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, speeches by the PM’s core economic team, finance minister Arun Jaitley, transport minister Nitin Gadkari, and railways minister Piyush Goyal, a star-studded CEO panel that includes steel king Lakshmi Mittal and metals baron Anil Agarwal, fireside chats with Netflix boss Reed Hastings, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, and Donald Trump Junior, special addresses by Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak and Sadhguru — all that and more are on offer at the two-day Economic Times Global Business Summit starting Friday.

The economic and political context of the prime minister’s GBS address cannot be more significant.

His government is fresh from demonstrating that radical reforms such as demonetisation and goods and services tax (GST) can obtain voter approval in India’s highly competitive electoral marketplace. In the coming months, a series of state elections culminating in the 2019 general elections will see Modi as BJP’s star campaigner, and his government has the twin remit of keeping the growth momentum going and addressing concerns of some sections of voters. India’s economy is back in revival mode and the prime minister remains overwhelmingly the most popular political leader in the country.


GBS 2018 is, therefore, the perfect setting for a prime ministerial speech that will set the agenda for both politics and policy. There’s also King Khan. Shah Rukh Khan, actor and successful businessman, will talk about the business of entertainment.

New-Economy Stars Too
Over Friday and Saturday, at New Delhi’s Taj Palace Hotel, a select audience of CEOs, top policymakers, academics and diplomats will listen to people whose words can move markets and create headlines.

On Friday, CEOs of global consultancy giants McKinsey and KPMG, and the bosses of online education giant Coursera and global new media major Naspers will join Mittal and Agarwal to talk about making India a $10-trillion economy.

On Saturday, India’s new-economy stars, Ola’s Bhavish Aggarwal, Flipkart’s Kalyan Krishnamurthy, MakeMyTrip’s Deep Kalra and Naukri’s Sanjeev Bikhchandani, will discuss ways and means to keep the startup momentum going.

And Bain’s Chris Zook, BCG’s Jeffrey Chua and GroupM’s Irwin Gotlieb will share their views on new management mantras.

There’s a lot more. Be there.