The Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC) organized its 3rd Indo-US Economic Summit: Accelerating Growth on September 13 & 14, 2006 at Hotel Le Meridien, New Delhi.
Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, Hon’ble Minister for Defence, Inaugurated the Summit. Dr David C Mulford, US Ambassador to India delivered a Special Address. The other eminent speakers at the Inaugural Session were Mr. Analjit Singh, Chairman, Max India Ltd & Member of the Indo-US CEO Forum and Ms Suneeta Reddy, Executive Director, Apollo Hospitals Group. Mr. B Prabhakar, President, IACC delivered the Welcome Address. Mr Deepak Pahwa, Summit Chairman presented the Theme Presentation and Mr. Baljit Sobit, Regional President proposed the Vote of Thanks.
Indo-US relations are now on a new trajectory. President Bush’s visit to India early this month has been truly historic. The nuclear agreement between the two countries signed by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and US President Mr George Bush has established a strategic relationship between the two countries. It has also paved the way for increased partnership and cooperation in a number of areas.
It is in these exciting times that the 3rd Indo-US Economic Summit was held with a focus on Infrastructure for Growth and India – A Design & Engineering and Manufacturing Destination.
Reducing the gap in development and improving the physical infrastructure has become a priority for the Indian Government. The Committee on Infrastructure headed by the Prime Minister, has estimated the investment requirement at Rs. 2,20,000 crores ($48.9 billion) for the highway sector by 2012, Rs.40,000 crore($9billion) for airports by 2010 and Rs. 50,000 crores ($11.1 billion) for the ports sector by 2012. It has also been estimated that India has a potential to absorb FDI of $150 billion in the next few years in the infrastructure sector alone.
To raise funds for such ambitious infrastructure projects, the Government is increasingly looking towards the private sector, private savings and other mechanism available in the market. All States of India are being encouraged to adopt the PPP model. To make the projects viable and successful, the Government of India is designing policies, which are stable and transparent. Recently, the Government has taken two important initiatives, i.e. the Viability Gap Funding Scheme and setting up of Indian Infrastructure Finance Corporation.
We are confident that India can position itself as a "manufacturing hub". Our confidence is based on the fact that the manufacturing sector has been freed from barriers; technology revolution has improved productivity and lowered costs and Indian manufacturing has rapidly integrated itself into global production.
The manufacturing sector can emerge as the main engine for economic growth, creating employment and wealth. It can emerge as a favored destination for outsourcing manufactured products. With the right push, the share of manufacturing, which is at a low level of 17% of GDP, can increase to a higher level.
The Summit brought together corporate leaders from India and the US, economists, eminent personalities, financial experts and policy makers on one platform to exchange ideas on some of the important sectors.
The Summit was led by Mr Deepak Pahwa, Summit Chairman, Mr. Prem Behl, Summit Co-Chairman assisted by a Steering Committee consisting of Mr. K N Memani, Dr M K Modi, Mr. Kamal Meattle, Mr. Vinod Chandiok, Dr Vivek Lall, Mr. S Chandrasekar, Mr. Gautam Mahajan, Mr. Vikram Madhok and Mr Baljit Sobti.
The Summit was supported by the Ministries of Civil Aviation, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, Department of Road Transport & Highways and endorsed by US Embassy.
The summit received sponsorship support from the following:
| Gold Sponsors |
| • DLF Universal |
• HINES |
Cocktails & Dinner Sponsor
• International Infrastructure Consultants Pvt Ltd
| Silver Sponsors |
| • ABN-AMRO |
• Boeing |
| • Continental Airlines |
• IDFC |
| • INFOR |
• Neil Soft |
| • Yes Bank |
|
Knowledge Partner
• Ernst & Young
| Associate Sponsors |
| • Bry-Air (Asia) (P) Ltd |
• Kalyani Forge |
| • Power Grid Corporation |
• LMJ |
| • Guardian Plasticote |
• Mastek |
| • Sonodyne |
• Japcon |
Car Rental Partner
• Hertz
Electronic Media Partners
• CNBC India
Print Media Partner
• The Economic Times
• In House Magazine
• Indo-US Business
The Summit was well attended and received good coverage in the print and electronic media.
The following delegations from the US visited India to participate in the Summit:
- Idaho Commerce & Labor, State of Idaho
- Indo-American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Houston
- The Alliance of Indo-American Chamber of Commerce, USA
- Representative of USIBC
Representatives made excellent presentations from Indian and US Companies, and Indian Governments, economists and experts from diverse areas.
They were as follows:
| Infrastructure for Growth |
|
Indo-US Cooperation for growth in India's civil aviation sector |
Chairman
Mr S Chandrasekar, Chairman, Infrastructure Committee, IACC & Chairman, Technician Training Institute of The National Academy of Construction
Speakers
Investment Opportunities in the Port Sector
Mr A K Mohapatra, Secretary, Department of Shipping, Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport & Highways
Investment Opportunities in the Road Sector
Dr S N Dash, Acting Chairman & Member - Finance, NHAI
Infrastructure Development and PPP Model
Mr. Gajendra Haldea, Adviser to Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission
Private Sector experiences in Roads & Ports Development
Dr A Ramakrishna, Advisor & Former President and Deputy Managing Director, Larsen & Toubro Ltd
Trends in Financing Infrastructure Projects (Roads & Ports)
Mr Luis Miranda, President & CEO, IDFC Private Equity
|
|
Chairman
Dr Vivek Lall, Session Chairman and Managing Director, Boeing India
Speakers
Indian Civil Aviation Sector - Emerging opportunities
Mr William Blair, Country Director, Aviation & Rail, GE India
Airport Modernization & Greenfield Projects - The Way Ahead
Mr Sanjay Reddy, Vice Chairman, GVK Industries Limited
Key Note Address
Mr Ajay Prasad, Secretary, Civil Aviation, Ministry of Civil Aviation
Panel Discussion
Mr. P V Krishna, Vice President, J M Morgan Stanley
Mr Kapil Kaul, CEO, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, Regional Office - New Delhi
Mr Atul Sharma, Partner, Link Legal
Ms. Neelam Mathews, Protem President, APAMA & Contributing Editor Aviation Week and Space Technology
Mr Sumant Batra, Senior Partner, Kesar Dass B & Associates
Mr Siddhanta Sharma, Chairman & CEO, SpiceJet
Special Address : Aviation Sector Growth : Legal Perspective
Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, MP & National spokesperson INC & Sr. Advocate
|
| Opportunities & Challenges In The Real Estate Sector |
|
India – A Design & Engineering and Manufacturing Destination - Advantage India |
Chairman
Mr Ganesh Raj, Session Chairman & Head of Real Estate Practice, Ernst & Young
Panel Discussion
Mr Seth R Freeman, CEO, EM Capital Management, LLC / EM Capital, Inc.
Mr. Daniel MacEachron, Managing Director, Hines India Real Estate Pvt Ltd
Mr. Nipun Sahni, Country Manager, GE Real Estate
Mr. J K Chandra, Sr. Executive Director, DLF Limited
Mr. Ashish Singh, Director - Strategy and Acquisition, , TSI Ventures
|
|
Chairman
Mr Hemant Sonawala, Session Chairman and Chairman, Hinditron Group of Companies
Speakers
Mr. R Vasudevan, Vice President, Wipro Infrastructure Engineering
Mr. Pradeep Bhargava, MD, Newage Electrical India Ltd, Newage AVK SEG
Mr. John Sandy, Chief of Staff to the Governor, Idaho
Mr Roger Madsen, Director, Idaho Commerce & Labor, USA
Dr Surinder Kapur, Chairman and MD, Sona Koyo Steering Systems, Ltd
Keynote Address
Mr Ashwani Kumar, Minister of State for Industry
Vote of Thanks
Mr. K N Memani, Chairman, KNM Advisory Pvt Ltd
|
| India - A Knowledge Based Manufacturing Partner |
|
Contract Manufacturing |
Speakers
Mr Raman Roy, Chairman, Quatrro BPO Solutions (P) Ltd
Mr Kumar Ramchandran, CEO, Vignani Technologies Pvt, Ltd
Mr. Ketan Bakshi, Managing Director, Neilsoft
India as a Knowledge Hub/ R & D Services
Mr John Sullivan, Asia Legal Director, Texas Instruments, Inc.
Keynote Speaker
Mr. V Govindarajan, Member Secretary, Government of India, National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council
|
|
Chairman
Mr. Jagdip Ahluwalia, Session Chairman & Executive Director, Indo-American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Houston, USA
Speakers
Mr. Utkarsh Palnitkar, Leader – Business Advisory Services, Ernst & Young (Pharma & Biotech)
Mr. Erik Nilson Comparini, India Design Center Manager, AMI Semiconductor, Inc. (Semi Conductor)
Mr. Sachin Danave, Principal Consultant, INFOR
Mr Sharad Bohra, Senior Director - Corporate Sourcing, Tyco International US Inc (Forgings & Castings)
Mr Arvind Jain, Bhillai Engg Corporation Ltd (Forgings & Castings)
Mr. Munish Dayal, President, Business Banking, Yes Bank
|
At the conclusion of the Summit, Mr Deepak Pahwa, Chairman, Indo-US Economic Summit proposed the Vote of Thanks. |
