Vote of thanks by Shri. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, MP & President-Elect (FICCI) at FICCI 80th Annual General Meeting-2008 (15 February 2008)

Hon'ble Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh,
Shri Habil Khorakiwalla President FICCI, Dr. Amit Mitra
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen :

It is with pleasure that I rise to propose a vote of thanks at this the 80th AGM of FICCI, with its theme of 'PROPELLING INDIAS GROWTH'.

As the Hon'ble Prime Minister described in his speech, India, Indian Industry and Indian Entrepreneurship has never had it so good.

It is also agreed that Indian Industry has a good run over the last few years. If you are one of those who measure success and growth in terms of the sensex ( I am not one of those) , the sensex was 4800 odd when Dr Singh assumed office as Prime Minister and is about 4 times that today.

The outlook for the future is bright and there is tremendous confidence, Energy and Capital that's giving a strong tailwind to the Indian Industry and economy as we look to the future. The XIth Plan expansion of investments in Health, Education, Infrastructure and Agriculture as described by the Hon'ble Prime Minister will further strengthen this tailwind.

As the Prime Minister himself has described in his speech, tremendous progress has been made in a lot of different areas – all on the back of robust growth, significant private investment and increased public spending. He mentioned the growth in the early 1990s. As someone who started his entrepreneurship exactly in that period, I can testify to the fact that this time around the growth is more broad-based with far more equity and depth than the 90s. All this has resulted in a sense of confidence, sometimes bordering on the overconfidence and it can be argued that the rhetoric of India is now sometimes sounding a bit ahead of the reality – because while we have arrived on the International scene we mustn't forget that we have a lot of ground still to cover.

And so despite the tremendous success of the last few years, I still think it best to think of the India Cup as one that is half full and focus our energies over the coming years to get the cup full to its brim. India will have almost 65% of its population under 35 years old and this group has already shown that they are impatient with the slow progress and the sometimes back and forth of growth and are prepared to be very aggressive about their aspirations being met. So rapid, inclusive and sustainable growth is really the only course of action we have as a nation.

Not to sound like an alarmist ( and I am sometimes blamed for being contrarian), there are clear storm clouds gathering over the global economy as the Prime Minister himself has mentioned. Given the linkages of our services and investment parts of our economy to the Global ones, its inevitable that if these storm clouds turn to a storm, then India and its economy will be affected. Even if it doesn't, as a nation its not a bad idea to be paranoid and therefore be prepared for the worst and look at ways of making our economy more efficient. To quote Andy Grove of Intel where I spent my early years – Only the Paranoid Survive. The assurance of the PM that despite all external challenges, the government will work to ensure a 9% growth is a confidence booster indeed.

FICCI is very clearly focused on the defining challenges for the future – The sessions that accompany this AGM over the next two days will attempt to address some of the defining future challenges for our nation and our ability to grow on a sustained basis – Double digit growth, Energy Security, Global warming, Environment, Global Trade, Impact of US slowdown etc.

The book 'Elephant and the dragon – Rise of China and India' describes India as walking one step forward and two steps sideways and even with this we grow at 9%. Imagine what will happen if there's a consistent 1 step forward movement!. In this pre-election season, FICCI will also work with other bodies to create a minimum economic vision or consensus around issues in addition to usual issues of Social and physical infrastructure deficit - like Costs of governance, Better model for Subsidies and the Dependence Economy and strengthening our Institutions of governance – be in improving the delivery efficiency of the Executive or capacity building in Regulatory bodies.

FICCI and its members are committed to the broad principles of what the Prime Minister has suggested in his speech. We believe that its in all our interests and that of the future generation of Indians - to push for an economic agenda that gives us sustained high levels of growth for the next decade. We also believe that its in all our interests to push for an economic agenda that as its objective inclusive growth. The Interests of Indian Industry are exactly and totally aligned with this.

In concluding, I would like to Thank our Respected Prime Minister for his time and words at this 80th AGM. Thank you Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen for making it here this morning at this 80th AGM of FICCI.

Thank you and Jai Hind.