Republic Economic Summit: Arnab Goswami delivers his closing address

Arnab Goswami delivers his closing address after a power-packed second edition of the India Economic Summit.

"The Indian economic text books are rotten. The sooner they're replaced, the better for India. We need a total revamping of our economic discourse. Then we will align economy to Indian people, civilisation," said S Gurumurthy. 

"India has begun playing the global game. In April 2022 after India took a stance during the war, every country's leader, FM & others came to India," said S Gurumurthy. 

"'The power to control money, the single-largest power, America's system has lost it," said S Gurumurthy.

"For geo-political interests, US allowed China into WTO. It raised a Frankenstein," said S Gurumurthy. 

"Whatever happens to America, the worst affected would be China," said S Gurumurthy

"'US has to reduce its standard of living, it is not sustainable by any standard. You were a superpower which everyone looked up to, now you are being challenged," said S Gurumurthy. 

"West has been living on civilisational assets built by their forefathers": S Gurumurthy argues his point, in conversation with Arnab Goswami; says 'ultra-individualism has destroyed family & culture'.

"'Does anyone speak about globalisation these days? No, now we are moving into uncharted waters," said S Gurumurthy. 

"A country with 1/6th of humanity can't be dependent on the world," said S Gurumurthy. 

"US Federal Reserve system has lost the ability to manage inflation. It has been doing so only by printing dollars," said S Gurumurthy. 

"Today America is in no position to control the dollar and control the oil supply," said S Gurumurthy.

 "In 2001, when 9/11 took place, they had G20 to bring together everyone and realised this one size fit-all model won't work. Each country will have to work its own. But there was no such thing in the Indian discourse," said S Gurumurthy. 

"Modi's reforms were not 1st or 2nd generation, he came and asked, how many bank accounts are there? He had the DBT arrangement in his mind. But this was not the reform that anyone was talking about," said S Gurumurthy. 

"The only thing on which Manmohan Singh protested against Sonia Gandhi and didn't comply was the Nuclear Deal with the US. After that he went to sleep and didn't awake till Narendra Modi," said S Gurumurthy.

"All think tanks from outside India want to associate with us today. The idea was to produce an Indian think tank which won't be influenced from outside," said S Gurumurthy. 

Editor-Tughlak, RSS ideologue & Chairman Vivekanand International Foundation S Gurumurthy recounts how he came to the conclusion that we need an Indian way of looking at economics.

"'In 2014, when I joined Google, most content on Youtube was music, and food, and in the last few years, it has become a place for infotainment, and a place for learning," Satya Raghavan, Director Marketing Partners, Google India.

"Mission Superpower will be achieved on the back of digital infrastructure. And we're now counting data centers also in infrastructure," said Rajnish Kumar, Chairman of BharatPe.

Satya Raghavan, Director at Google India, Rajnish Kumar, the Chairman of BharatPe, and Sandeep Goel, MD of Moglix, speak to Republic's Senior Executive Editor Niranjan Narayanaswamy on 'Mission Superpower'. 

 "I am confident that by the next 5 years, we will have 10 lakh electric buses," said Nitin Gadkari. 

"We will create more jobs in the mining sector. We don't need to import coal," Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways. 

"This is the time for India to understand how it can increase its growth. Our PM has given the highest priority for the development of infrastructure," said Nitin Gadkari. 

"'The tourism is the sector which will create the maximum employment potential": Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways.

Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways, delivers a keynote address at the Republic Media Network's 'India Economic Summit'.

At Republic Media Network's 'India Economic Summit', Principal Economic Advisor Sanjeev Sanyal said, "Growth isn't inevitable, it's earned. In order to earn that growth, we have to keep putting effort and moving ahead. To be fair to China, they put in a lot of effort."

"Much of our current economic resilience has happened mostly by ignoring advice of global economists, particularly those based on the East-coast of the United States," said Principal Economic Advisor Sanjeev Sanyal.

India's G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant said that "unlike G20s held in many parts of the world, the PM is determined to make it one in which the people of India are actively involved, so events take place in all parts of India."

In a conversation with India's G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant at Republic Media Network's 'India Economic Summit', Suhel Seth opined that "G20 is a great branding exercise for India, Indians and Indianness."

India's G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant said that the transformation within India is due to Prine Minister Narendra Modi's own focus on governance. "Other than election time, he's actually a hardcore task master. He is basically a technocrat at heart," Kant said.

At Republic Media Network's 'India Economic Summit', G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant said, "By the time India takes over G20 presidency, there would be a recession in several parts of the world, you have the Russia-Ukraine crisis, you will have to accelerate the growth."

"The peace in India comes from the soldiers standing on the Line of Control," Major (retired) Gaurav Arya commented on self-reliance in Defence. 

Major (retired) Gaurav Arya spoke at the India Economic Summit on the strategic impact of India's economy. 

Invest India MD Deepak Bagla remarked, "What's happening in India is being globally acknowledged as one of the biggest transformations, both in terms of scale and pace". He added, "In 84 months, we moved ahead of countries like Russia, France, UK in terms of GDP. It is an unprecedented transformation". He also highlighted that 72 months after Digital India was launched, the nation consumed more per-capita mobile data than the US and China. Bagla added that 41% of real-time transactions happened in India. 

"I'm very optimistic about what the future holds for us. Directionally we're heading into a future we deserve," Alok Bansal, co-founder of Policybazaar.com stated. 

"Good economics today is the centre for good politics," Invest India MD Deepak Bagla stated. 

Policybazaar.com co-founder Alok Bansal said, "There is not just urban and rural India, there is 2-tier and 3-tier as well. They are also consumers and we need to create a solution to cater to them as well."

Alok Bansal of Policybazaar.com, Sameer Manchanda of Den Networks and Invest India MD Deepak Bagla participated in the 'India Century' session.

"Land degradation is a huge challenge. We have raised it at COP. And we have taken huge steps to counter it. We have initiated soil health cards. When the farmer has data, he can stop land degradation," Union Minister Bhupender Yadav mentioned.  

Speaking at the Republic Economic Summit, Union Minister Bhupender Yadav asserted, "When PM says each woman should have Ujjwala, not only is the target fulfilled but the second target is also reached. The same is done for the digital revolution, healthcare. It's achieved in targeted time."

In organized sector, there's a continuous trend of increasing employment. Whenever there's a big industry that comes up, there are smaller industries that flourish alongside. So our surveying is now area-based.

"Two methods of employment - organized and disorganized sectors. PM has made us so technologically strong, we've been able to open common service centres in every village, and we've registered 29 crore unorganized sector workers," Union Minister Bhupender Yadav said. 

Taking a swipe at Congress, Union Minister for Environment, Forest & Climate Change; and Labour & Employment Bhupender Yadav said, "Whenever there were steps to make India a superpower, some people became absent. The 'Bharat Jodo' people were absent."

Union Minister Bhupender Yadav delivered the keynote address on the theme 'Upskilled and unstoppable'.

Hitting out at BJP, ex-diplomat Pavan Varma remarked, "When you overemphasize some facts and gloss over the other, you paint a half picture. You have not done enough to create an equitable society."

Contending that there is huge underemployment, economist Arun Kumar opined, "Demonetisation, GST, and the immediate lockdown created a crisis. During demonetisation, when everyone agreed the economy went down dramatically, the official data showed the highest growth in the decade. That shows that the credibility of the data is something that we need to be worried about. Similarly, unemployment is highest among women. Women have withdrawn from the labour force. And the youth 15-29, unemployment is the highest. The higher the education, the higher the unemployment."

Pavan Varma remarked, "Not everything is black and white. The government has done good as well, I accept it. But this is a country where inflation is high, unemployment is rampant."

Economist Arun Kumar argued, "Let's come to the IMF and World Bank saying that Indian economy is doing well, they are not data gathering agencies. They only take government data and use the government data to do the analysis. So whatever the mistakes in the govt data are the mistakes in the IMF and World Bank data. The unorganised sector remains unaccounted in the government data, that's why the rate of growth is high."

Opposing the Centre's economic policy, former MP Pavan Varma asserted, "In a democracy, I don't think there's scope for coercive conformity". Retorting to this, BJP national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia stressed, "There is no greater satisfaction than to listen to Pavan Varma's criticism, and then prove that he is not 100% right. India is moving in the right direction under PM Modi". 

BJP leader Gaurav Bhatia advised the opposition not to criticise for the sake of criticism. He asserted, "India is growing steadily. We have seen macro changes in the way things are implemented now. One such example is Direct Benefit Transfer."

A panel comprising former diplomat and ex-MP Pavan Varma, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla and economist Arun Kumar will deliberate on the political will for India to become a superpower. 

Mohandas Pai said," You can't accuse investors of too much intelligence, you can only accuse them of greed and fear: You pour money when money is available. And when money dries up, you sit quietly. This cycle is going to happen again. It is the nature of the beast. Human beings move by greed and fear. These are the only two emotions in the private markets". He also stressed that investment is an art and that's how entrepreneurs are funded. 

Aarin Capital chairman TV Mohandas Pai remarked, "We have got to scale up and address the global market, not just the Indian market. That is what ambition should be."

Info Edge founder and vice chairman Sanjeev Bikhchandani stated, "There are ups and downs. Some startups may not survive but the ones who are fit will survive well."

Stressing the need for India to lobby in order to ensure that our correct image is portrayed, Mohandas Pai said, "We have got a negative image. The negative image is buttressed by the Left who created negative things. About the Hijab controversy, you say that there is a ban on Hijab. There is no ban on Hijab in this country."

Mohandas Pai remarked, "Only 2% of GDP is coming as FDI. We are very small and diversity is high. We have to be optimistic and work towards it". He elaborated, "We are supply-constrained, not demand-constrained. We must take per-capita income to $46,000 a year". 

Aarin Capital co-founder Mohandas Pai recalled, "In 2000s, Infosys was valued at many times SAIL. Next 4 years we increased EPS and market value came down. A cycle goes on, and we've got to be cognisant about that and build sustainable businesses."

At the India Economic Summit, TV Mohandas Pai and Info Edge founder Sanjeev Bikhchandani spoke to Ananta Capital founder Lovkesh Kapoor on the theme 'Investing in new India'. 

Predicting that there will be 250 unicorns by 2025, Mohandas Pai stated, "India is in a great cycle for startups. We have raised $12 billion of money from 2014 to 2021. In 2021, we got $42 billion of capital coming in. This year, we will have FDI of $100 billion. This year, we have 18 unicorns. Last year, we had unicorns almost every week". He also advised, "Look after value creation, it is sustainable. Valuation is like glamour". 

Mohandas Pai, co-founder of Aarin Capital spoke at the Republic Economic Summit on value and valuation. He observed, "Human emotions rule the markets. When there is greed, valuation grows up". 

Predicting a bright future for the Indian economy, the Bank of Baroda MD emphasised, "We are at an inflection point which is very powerful. Ultimately, everything is comparative. In absolute terms, we are rebounding very powerfully."

"The fintechs are agile, banks in turn have capital and are well-regulated. Working with fintechs should be part of every bank's business model," Sanjiv Chadha, MD and CEO Bank of Baroda asserted.

Bank of Baroda MD Sanjiv Chadha remarked, "India is largely dependent on banks in terms of financing. So banks do have a disproportionate contribution when it comes to the financial system in India. It is also how history has played out. All banks do the work which the DFIs used to do in the past."

The Bank of Baroda MD stated, "The model we have pioneered through the UPI system is truly unique and has worked really well for India in terms of scalability. What we have achieved in terms of the infrastructure, the Aadhaar system, the Payment system, the ONDC, this is the time to build on those successes, to make sure that this infrastructure is used optimally". He opined that if there's a revolution that's changed the way of life of just about everyone it's the payments revolution.

Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs & Food & Public Distribution and Textiles Piyush Goyal spoke at the Republic India Economic Summit on the theme 'Unleashing India'. He said, "Given our huge potential in different areas be it manufacturing, industry, agricultural produce, the very vibrant and strong services sector, India is looking at holistic growth across different skill sets". He predicted that India will become a $30 trillion economy by 2047 which will translate to $20000 per capita income for every Indian citizen. 

In his message, Union Minister Piyush Goyal remarked, "Many of you will recall the situation that existed in 2014 when this government came to power. From a fragile 5 economy facing severe challenges of every front, today we are recognised world over as the fastest-growing world economy."

Piyush Goyal remarked, 'We are in dialogue with many other countries for robust, fair and equitable free trade agreements, which will be in national interest and provide huge opportunities for Indian businesses."

"The future may be the next two-three decades completely belongs to India. The reason is very simple. The per capita which is today 2200 or 2500 moves to 7500 by the end of 2030, imagine the consumerism and the amount of disposable income that is available," the Volvo India MD stressed. 

Volvo India MD Kamal Bali said, "The mission of the government to become net-zero by 2070 is a huge statement. It's an unwieldy thing to decode how net zero will happen."

"We are underpenetrated when it comes to the automobile sector in India. The interesting element is that the Government is supporting the PLI scheme to bring in new technologies," the Volvo India MD asserted. 

MG Motors MD Rajeev Chaba stated, "We are giving our upcoming EV, best in the class, to ITIs & colleges so they can do reverse engineering". 

Volvo India MD Kamal Bali said, "Era of collaborations and partnerships has started. No one automotive company will be able to provide a 360-degree solution to the consumer. In the last few years we've partnered with 8 companies we may not have earlier."

The Volvo India MD stated, "The future of mobility is bright and transformational. It's going to open a completely new economy. Autonomy companies will look like technology companies and India is poised for big opportunities". He added, "New transport concepts, last-mile connectivity like drones, the future is very transformational. Automobile companies will be like tech companies". 

MG Motors MD Rajeev Chaba remarked, "Our machinery has to be part of solution. How can I help you, solve the problem. That mindset is taking time to change."

In the driver's seat are Volvo India MD Kamal Bali and MG Motors MD Rajeev Chaba who are discussing the automobile sector's role in steering India towards its Mission Superpower.

"In many ways, India is doing better than the Western world. When I travel there and I come back here, be it in terms of crime ir clean our roads are. On many parameters where India was lacking, India is really picking up. So this narrative around India will organically change and is already changing," Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath stated. 

"There's always a reason to be negative on anything. The important denominator for entrepreneurs is to attempt things despite all of it. That motivation is something we all look for," Pranav Pai said. He elaborated, "There is a top-down approach today. I don't remember any PM in history talking in whatever language he has to, to regular Indians about a 10 trillion dollar economy. That is a radical transformation".

Nikhil Kamath remarked, "Globally markets are down, 25-30%. While India has been largely immune to that, many of the underlying factors for companies and entrepreneurs in the start-up space are changing. Inflation is at levels we have not witnessed in 50,60, and 100 years in many countries across the world. One of the only tools we have to contain inflation is to increase interest rates. When the interest rates continue to go up, the risk-taking ability of the VC funds which have been pumping money into India in the last decade will go down significantly." 

Upasana Taku asserted, "This Government more than any other has had a theme of 'Startup India' and 'Make In India'. The focus is amazing, and there can be an amazing disruption". She added, "There are many entrepreneurs trying to build companies in new areas. I wish the government will come out with new and clear regulations and stick with them". 

MobiKwik co-founder Upasana Taku stated, "Even today, despite the digital transformation of the last 5-10 years, less than 30 million Indians invest. From an innovation and opportunity point of view, it's a greenfield. I think over 100 more unicorns can be built in FinTech alone."

Pranav Pai, founding partner of 3one4 Capital stressed, "There is an impatience in young India. All of us have seen it. As I said before, there is a drive to make sure that we move ahead faster. And there is don't care what they say attitude. That's great. We finally have an ecosystem that allows them to express themselves, to allow those energies in the right direction." 

Keshav Bhajanka of Century Ply stated, "When it comes to innovation, what has got us here today is the need to do things differently. During COVID, we came up with an idea to make ply virus free, they laughed at us, but we made the world's first anti-virus plywood."

MobiKwik co-founder Upasana Taku opined, "SAAS companies, B2B tech companies have already taken their products global. Consumer-facing product and tech companies have also tried. On exits, liquidity and listings, we'll see more Indian companies expanding to other geographies."

Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath remarked, "We do feel a lot of optimism on the ground. I would say even outside of India, when you talk to international investors today, they may not be very optimistic about their own countries but when they talk about India, it is always about optimism. So, I am sure we are on the right path. We need to be cognizant about the bumps on the road."

"We're surprised by how many non-mainstream opportunities there are in India. In India today, 'scale' means a billion people," Pranav Pai of 3one4 Capital said. 

"In any large country, today you see their strategy being developed by Indians, you have CEOs from India. I am proud to be born in this country," Vedanta chairman Anil Agarwal said. 

India's young entrepreneurs will reveal their thoughts on India's Mission Superpower.

Addressing the Republic Economic Summit via video conference, Vedanta chairman Anil Agarwal stated, 'India today is in a sweet spot. The world is looking up to India and our tall leader PM Modi Ji". He added, "It is now a time for us, our startups, our youth. We have to take everyone with us to make our country proud. Our Mother Earth has everything, we don't have to import".

"PM has given us a target of 200 stations. We created a plan such that the growth of the city gets improved by the station, not stymied. We went to the PM and he didn't approve. He wanted us to plan for next 50 years, not just for today," Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw affirmed.

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw revealed, "Railways is very close to PM's heart. He knows everything. That's the meeting I go with most preparation for". 

Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw stated that India will roll out 6G by 2028-29. Stressing that the world is recognising that India is emerging as a technological superpower, he revealed that at least 8 Ministers from G20 told me said that we are waiting for India's 5G. 

Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw stated, "The head of very large company with more than $100 billion turnover made a statement that India has changed. He'd visited after some 15 years. He met PM for over an hour. It was a totally different experience for him."

At the Republic Economic Summit, Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw elaborated on the Telecom and Data Protection bills. He stressed, "We want our innovation system to flourish, not get stymied by the Data Protection bill". 

"When India wanted to start the automobile industry, the companies that had hunger for it came. The same may happen in semiconductors. We've tied up with some of the best labs in the world," Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw mentioned.

Explaining the thought process behind keeping China out of 5G, Ashwini Vaishnaw said, "There are certain technologies which every aspiring nation must try and master. That doesn't mean you shut yourself to the outside world. The idea is our engineers, our technicians are the best in the world.".

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw revealed to Arnab Goswami the Prime Minister's detailed meetings on arduous but critical endeavours, including semiconductors. 

Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said, "After the spectrum auctions, it generally takes a few months for the spectrum to be physically allocated, and the harmonization of all frequencies that has to be done. The earliest possible is a few months. It is actually happened in 1 day. Two weeks is basically the time which is given to the telecom service providers to make the payments. As soon as the payment was done, within 24 hours of that, the spectrum letters were issued." 

"Most fundamental change when 5G gets launched is the change in the healthcare sector. The second change is in education sector. Third is IT sector. We'll see massive transformation," Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said.

"We have already invested significant amount of time, resource and funds in getting 6G developments in place. Already, we have more than 15 patents for 6G technology. Our teams are called for all major discussions. We have a clear roadmap for taking the lead. The lead is in ensuring we are the technology leaders in 6G," Ashwini Vaishnaw stated. 

The Union IT Minister noted, "The thought process has changed. Now it is 'Make in India', design in India, bring supply chain to India. That is a big difference." 

As India enters the 5G era, Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw expressed his thoughts in conversation with Arnab Goswami.

Maintaining that India's 'hockey stick moment' is here, Arnab Goswami explained, "I believe that our growth in the next few years is not going to be gradual. We are entering a very accelerated period of growth. And I am going to give a historic perspective for this. America had its hockey stick moment in the late 18th century when its GDP grew 2.5 times faster than the population from 1700 to 1900 and then 4.5 times faster from 1900 to 2000. So, the 20th century was truly America's century." 

Republic's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami delivered his inaugural address at the India Economic Summit.

Union IT & Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw arrived at the Republic Economic Summit.

Arnab Goswami and his team shared their insights as Republic gets set to kickstart the second edition of the Republic Economic Summit.

Speaking ahead of the Republic Economic Summit, international affairs expert Sreeram Chaulia said, "It is a high-potential country with a sweet spot in its economy, expected to grow continuously over the whole decade. It is far ahead of China. They have been outpacing us. But in this decade, they are outpacing the Chinese."

Rini Simon Khanna, the host of the Republic Economic Summit stated, "It is absolutely wonderful that we are at this juncture in the capital city which steers what happens in the rest of the nation. So, it is going to be a power-packed day. You have got 5 Ministers, bankers, thinkers, economists, and people from the economic world. They are all going to gather here to ideate and deliberate and to look at all critical questions that face the world which is already in a spin." 

As the fastest-growing major economy in the world embarks on Mission Superpower, watch LIVE as the India Economic Summit sets the agenda. 

Sharing his insights on the summit, Republic's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami remarked, "I feel that IMF's numbers on India are still conservative. The bottom line is that if you look at the big picture, we see with absolute clarity that there is 5-10 years for India to be the world's leading economy in terms of growth. So, it is a wonderful time to sit and talk about the various things that can be done in terms of the role of corporate India, investors in the country, policymakers and the political class. We are covering 4-5 key areas. I am quite confident that this is going to be a wonderful event as the day grows."

Countdown to Republic's India Economic Summit begins! Watch the most influential list of Union Ministers, economists, corporate heads, entrepreneurs, thinkers and policymakers as we discuss India's 'Mission Superpower'.

Speaking on the summit, Republic Political Editor Aishwarya Kapoor commented, "The movers and shakers of the Indian economy are going to be here. Mission Superpower- that's the tagline of today's summit. So you have a full jam-packed house right starting from Ashwini Vaishnaw to Piyush Goyal to Nitin Gadkari and then so forth. You have a series of Union Ministers, honchos, bankers, investors- the people who make the Indian economy are going to be here on one platform." 

With minutes to go before the live coverage of Republic Economic Summit, here are visuals from the event venue. 

The stage is set for the second edition of Republic's ‘India Economic Summit’ which will put the spotlight on the economy at a time when the nation is moving ahead with its mission to be a superpower!

The ‘India Economic Summit 2022’ will be live telecast on Republic TV. It will also be available on the Republic World website- https://www.republicworld.com, mobile application and on the Republic YouTube channel.

The Republic Economic Summit will begin in less than 45 minutes.

​The first edition of Republic's ‘India Economic Summit' held in November last year provided answers to pressing questions in the post-COVID world by delving into the dynamics of the Indian economy and engaging in gainful dialogue on the macro and microeconomic picture with some of India's brightest minds. At a time when a new world order has been set in motion and new economic and global partnerships are being formed, it proved to be an ideal platform to ideate on the state of the Indian Economy. Some of the themes of the event included 'The Future is Digital', 'Unicorn Race' and 'The Green Mobility Shift'.

At a time when the world is witnessing turbulence in a post-pandemic world, India is moving ahead with its mission to become a global superpower. The second edition of Republic's ‘India Economic Summit’ today will put the spotlight on the Indian economy, the journey ahead, the scope, the tremendous potential, and the roadmap for India. The momentous event will see the participation of Union Ministers, the most influential list of economists, corporate heads, bankers, entrepreneurs, thinkers, and policymakers as we discuss India's Mission Superpower.