More than 400 foreign investors to attend World Economic Forum's India Economic Summit

NEW DELHI: Defence and finance minister Arun Jaitley will launch the World Economic Forum’s India Economic Summit on Wednesday, with a little over 400 foreign investors in attendance, according to the organizers, who said this would be the highest number in recent years. The summit is returning to India after a one-year gap. Jaitley will also hold a closed-door meeting with 25 global CEOs at the summit.

"We will be seeing such a strong investor group after a long time as there is a phenomenal change in sentiment about India in recent months," said Chandrajit Banerjee, director general of the Confederation of Indian Industry, or CII, which is jointly organising the summit in an equal partnership with the WEF. "It is important that we take advantage of the opportunity and make a good impression."

A number of Union ministers will interact with foreign and Indian investors at the summit, the first such event after the Narendra Modi government came to power. They include Nitin Gadkari, minister of road transport, shipping and rural development; Ravi Shankar Prasad, minister of telecom and law; Piyush Goyal, minister of coal, power and renewable energy; Nirmala Sitharaman, minister of commerce and industry; and, Smriti Irani, the human resources development minister.

"India’s progress depends fundamentally on the ability of its leaders to take bold decisions," said Viraj Mehta, director at the World Economic Forum, in charge of India and South Asia. "By bringing together leaders from politics, business and society, we hope the summit will offer an environment where such decisions can be catalysed," he said.

The theme for this year’s summit is, ‘Redefining Public-Private Cooperation for a New Beginning’.

Banerjee of CII said, "It is a fact that PPPs, or public-private partnerships, have failed to deliver intended outcomes in India. Yet, it is imperative that we find a workable model as PPPs will play a role in building hard and soft infrastructure as well as implementing the government’s thrust areas such as Swachh Bharat and Digital India." He said the summit will also focus on the ease of doing business and innovation.

There will be 24 brainstorming sessions on themes aligned with the focus areas enunciated in PM Narendra Modi’s speeches such as Digital India, Swachh Bharat, governance, transparency, climate change and gender equality. Sources said there are 700 leaders from business, civil society and government attending, with foreign delegates from 45 countries outnumbering domestic attendees.