'India must create more jobs to become a global force'

The session debated whether this year's guest nation India could ever lead the global economy in the future, and discussed the issues that could hold up any progress.

According to the World Economic Forum, India is the seventh largest economy in the world and is expected to be the second largest by 2050.

Shobana Kamineni, President of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), was joined on the panel by Chairman Hero Enterprises Sunil Kant Munjal, Dr Rajiv Modi, Chairman and Managing Director of Cadila Pharmaceuticals Limited and C P Gurnani, Managing Director and CEO of Tech Mahindra Ltd, for the session.

The panel discussed India’s current economic position, and what needs to be done in the future to improve the lives of a population of over one billion.

When discussing the prospect of becoming a global leader, Gurnani said: "It depends what you mean by being a global leader, and how far into the future you are talking about.

There are certain sectors where India is already becoming a global leader – infrastructure, healthcare and education. Much work still needs to be done to help small and mid-sized companies."

Munjal supported Gurnani's stance and said that India had already taken on some of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in the world, notably in the agricultural, manufacturing and education sectors.

He also explained how the government was working on a cluster approach in infrastructure development to promote manufacturing and economic activity, stating that this had demonstrated a great multiplier effect.

Kamineni raised a issue facing India in the future – securing growth and providing jobs for the forthcoming generations.

"India will continue to grow for at least another decade when populations in most other countries will have stabilised.

At that stage, 40 per cent of people in the world below the age of 30 will be Indians," she said.

"We need to continue to provide jobs for them. This is an urgent need for us. The pace of change is a concern. The sheer size of the country means that sometimes change takes a generation to be felt," she warned.

Munjal said the biggest challenges often offer the biggest opportunities.

"India needs to become more global, and that we need to create jobs for our youth by encouraging entrepreneurship," Gurnani said.