MNCs line up for WEF meet

"This is the 19th summit we are organising with the CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) and never have we seen such enthusiasm before," WEF Director Colette Mathur told Business Standard.

The list of MNCs, that have signed up with the WEF for the three-day summit in New Delhi starting on November 23, includes Microsoft, IBM, Siemens, Bombardier, Boeing, Goldman Sachs, Mckinsey, KPMG, AT Kearney, Hewlett Packard, Computer Associates, Sara Lee and Accenture.

"There could be more as some others have also shown an interest. Some of them, like Sara Lee, have told us they only wanted to observe India and not get involved," she added.

When asked if these companies would be represented by their global chief executive officers (CEOs) at the summit, Mathur said most of the foreign participants would be represented by board-level executives, but for one or two, it could be their CEOs.

Mathur said these companies were drawn by India's growing economy, its emergence as an outsourcing hub for infotech and IT-enabled services and the growing competence of Indian manufacturing.

"The consumption is great and the middle class is growing. Companies outsourcing from China are now shifting to India," Mathur noted.

Mathur said while Commerce Minister Arun Jaitley and External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha had confirmed their participation in the summit, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Finance Minister Jaswant Singh were yet to confirm participation.

The summit will focus on four new areas: ICT, infrastructure with an emphasis on transport, agriculture and corporate social responsibility. The meet will also review the progress achieved in key areas of discussion since the last summit.