In recent years, Indian participation in the World Economic Forum at Davos has acquired a familiar, ritualistic ring to it. Indian politicians and corporate head honchos make a beeline for their share of the limelight on the global stage, which is dominated by leaders and billionaires from powerful countries.
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This year, too, it was no different. The political delegation comprised some savvy, English-speaking Union ministers and half a dozen chief ministers. While BJP CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Himanta Biswa Sarma, and leader of its ally the TDP and Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu were there to scout potential investors, Congress and DMK chief ministers of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu gave it a miss, but the CM of Jharkhand made it to Davos in Switzerland.
Each year, national leaders mainly strive to position India as a major foreign investment destination. This year, they wanted to bring the world around to accepting India’s transition from an “emerging” economy to a “pivotal” global force. As expected, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw reiterated India’s growth projections in the wake of varying degrees of caution or skepticism expressed by some international agencies. Whether there were takers or not depends on their perception about the health of democracy, policy-to-practice conversion, effective governance and ease of doing business, and many of them are unlikely to be swayed by India’s claims and perception management and narrative control at home.
Another area where the Indian delegation had to do damage control was with regard to the characterisation of India as a “second-tier AI power”. The popular perception is that compared to the US and China, India is trailing in the global AI race when it comes to building sovereign AI models that match the scale, complexity and efficiency of global models. Ashwini Vaishnaw made a valiant effort to refute this and managed to extract some kind of validation from IMF MD Kristalina Georgieva, who said she was impressed by India’s approach to staying competitive in the realm of AI.
The chief ministers, on the other hand, try to secure investment commitments and strategic partnerships for their respective states. The state delegations face the onerous task of convincing investors to make impressive announcements, and the flavours of the season were artificial intelligence, scalable high-tech manufacturing and digital infrastructure. States like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat and Maharashtra have a historical edge over other states due to their robust, industry-friendly ecosystems, including skilled labour. States like Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Assam, however, struggle to compete despite generous financial support from the Centre. It is far more difficult to convince foreign investors who need to loosen their purse strings than voters who are more receptive to election campaign messaging. These states need to achieve and demonstrate visible change on the ground, especially with respect to developing a highly skilled talent pool and the prevalence of a cosmopolitan culture, to change investor perception.
The larger issue is the perception gaining ground that there is a discernible change in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s hitherto eager flamboyance with regard to foreign visits, interactions or hobnobbing with powerful leaders and making his presence felt on global platforms. After skipping the ASEAN summit, Modi’s absence at Davos has been conspicuous, and a pattern is possibly forming. The speculations are unflattering, and the sooner they are addressed, the better it will be.