WEF meet begins today; tough questions likely on governance deficit amid India’s inclusive growth.
There are quite a few worried faces in the 130-strong India contingent comprising five ministers, 115 CEOs (the largest ever) and other thought leaders who came into Davos today to attend the mother of all networking events — the five-day World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting — which begins tomorrow.
Reason: Convincing the over 2,500 business, government and civil society leaders from around the globe about the sustenance of India’s inclusive growth (this year’s theme) may prove as elusive as sure footing on the icy streets of this Alpine resort, where the temperature is hovering around -6°C.
The matter is serious enough for the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), a partner of WEF, to send a five-page “talking points” to all prominent India speakers — 39 of them — in Davos about how to defend the India story and how to keep the India brand intact.
To their credit, CII President Hari Bhartia and his image managers have indeed done a great job in promoting India as a desirable investment destination. Apart from reams of promotion materials (expensive coffee table books and Indian handicraft gift items with the India Inclusive logo for all delegates), you can see India Inclusive everywhere — in the Zurich airport and on the giant billboards outside big departmental stores and buses in Davos.
So, there is no shortage of glitz and hype over India in this upmarket ski resort. There are also two Bollywood nights and actor Deepika Padukone with — who else but — Sidharth Mallya will come for the India soiree on Friday.
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But the problem is the theme paper on ‘India Inclusive’, drafted by Unique Identification Authority of India Chairman Nandan Nilekani sometime back, had focused on the country’s role as a ‘Goldilocks economy’, where growth is high yet stable and sustainable.
Much has happened since then, including a wave of corruption scandals that have dominated headlines all over the world, spooked markets, stalled Parliament, prompted open letters about governance deficit and threaten to be a major talking point in Davos.
Bhartia agrees the issue of governance deficit is sure to figure in the countless seminars in Davos and that the Indian participants — beginning with ICICI Bank MD & CEO Chanda Kochhar as the Co-Chair — have to handle the questions honestly as they can’t hide anywhere.
CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee says the issue has been discussed internally and also with WEF, but the overwhelming opinion is that India has a good enough economic story to sell and the current controversy will only increase accountability at all levels in India.
What has, however, made the Indian contingent’s job even more challenging is the growing perception that the powerful BRIC (Brazil, China, India and Russia) nations are becoming vulnerable to external shocks. A survey done by consultancy Booz & Company released here yesterday showed they lack adequate risk management. “Russia is vulnerable to swings in the oil price, Brazil to commodity prices, and India and China to global demand,” Booz said in the survey.
What could, however, give Bhartia and others some breathing space is the fact that the problems are far more in the so-called developed nations, despite early signs of a recovery in the US. “It’s that failure of global governance which is perhaps the greatest risk of all,” WEF Chief Business Officer Robert Greenhill said in a webcast in the run-up to the annual meeting.
This means despite the problems that countries like India are facing, this year’s WEF meeting will focus firmly on exploring the significance of shifting political and economic power from developed countries to emerging nations. This changing reality is reflected in the composition of this year’s guest list: More than half the 30-odd heads of government attending are from emerging countries.
WEF will also wheel out several other global leaders. While Russian President Dmitry Medvedev opens the forum tomorrow and will take questions from the public via “crowdsourcing” on Twitter, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is the chair of the G20, addresses the forum a day later. Also present will be German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron who will fly in briefly.
The cast list also features eight central bankers, including European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, a dozen global bank chiefs and more than 1,400 CEOs, quite a few of whom will use Twitter as CEO-reporters.
Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, are representing their Foundation, and the star cast also includes regulars such as Google co-founder Larry Page and steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal.
But many say the real action will also be far away from the heads of state and business celebrities. Over the next five days, Davos will be peopled by feature workshops think-ins, private seminars, and of course, parties and plenty of opportunity for deal-making outside the conference halls. The slopes will surely be empty and the streets full of suits for the next few days.