By Arun Kumar, IANS
Washington : Former Indian president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and venture capitalist Vinod Dham, considered the father of the Intel Pentium microprocessor, will be keynote speakers at this year’s Wharton India Economic Forum (WIEF).
The theme of the 12th such conference, to be held Saturday in Philadelphia, is ‘India Imagine’. It will serve as a platform for thought-leaders, professionals and policy makers to define their perception of the global Indian and discuss the wave of new imagination that is spurring the nouveau Indian to create unprecedented opportunities.
WIEF’s goal is to raise awareness of issues India continues to face as a leading emerging market country and to raise awareness of the WIEF platform as it attracts some of the top business, political and other thought leaders of India, the organisers said.
Over the last two years WIEF has traced the Indian growth story exploring themes such as ‘India’s Mantra for Success’ and ‘Realising the Indian Dream’.
Today, WIEF seeks to assess all the different issues that India may face on its continued journey towards becoming an economic powerhouse.
From development to healthcare and mass retail to investments, participants will explore India with her leaders, WIEF said.
India continues to be a story of dramatic growth, even in an increasingly gloomy economic environment, the forum said. It has travelled an extraordinary path to emerge stronger and prouder than envisaged 62 years ago. Today, 1.1 billion Indians can shape India’s future, using their collective imagination, according to the forum.
Speakers will discuss topics like India’s New Mandate: Addressing the Health Care Paradox; Mass Retail: Getting Organized to Grow Too Soon?; The Indian Diaspora; Investing in India: The Maturation Process, What’s Next?; Infrastructure: No Longer an Achilles Heel of Growth; India’s Unprivileged Majority: The Real Development Story; and Technology’s role in the New Indian Economy.
Prominent speakers include K. Srinath Reddy, President, Public Health Foundation of India, Suneeta Reddy, Director-Finance, Apollo Hospital Enterprises, Ltd, Sant Chatwal, President and CEO, Hampshire Hotels & Resorts, LLC, Heramb Hajarnavis, Goldman Sachs PIA, Ranjit Pandit, Managing Director, General Atlantic Partners LLC, and Zubin Dubash, India Head, Merrill Lynch Private Equity.
Neelam Deo, Consul General of India, New York, Nasser Munjee, Chairman, Development Credit Bank Ltd, Shanta Devarajan, Chief Economist, World Bank’s South Asia Region, Vikram Akula, CEO and Founder, SKS Microfinance, Sunil Dutt, Country Head, Samsung Mobile India, and Y.V. Verma, Director (HR and Management Support), LG Electronics India Pvt Ltd will also attend.
The 12th annual WIEF is supported by Merrill Lynch, LG Electronics, Jet Airways and The India Cements Ltd. Panels are supported by Cisco Systems, Bank of India and the Khubchandani Group.
WIEF continues to be recognized as the premier student-run conference that annually brings together over 500 professionals, faculty and students to share their views and take action on the economic, social and political issues impacting India.
Over the years, WIEF has attracted several prominent speakers including P. Chidambaram, Rajat Gupta, Rahul Bajaj, Anil Ambani, Henry Paulson, Frank Wisner, N.R Narayana Murthy, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Shashi Tharoor, Arshad Zakaria, Sunil Mittal and Mukesh Ambani.
The first collegiate school of business established in 1881, Wharton continues its heritage of innovation in an exciting environment that generates the ideas and knowledge that transform global business, the organisers said.