 "India-UK Tech Summit: PM Modi's pet projects dominate CEO forum")
Heads of businesses, who met in a parallel track as part of the India-UK Tech Summit on Monday, exchanged views on issues related to some of the signature schemes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi such as ease of doing business, smart cities and Digital India.
But many of the prominent UK chief executive officers (CEOs), including Vodafone’s Vittorio Colao, Jaguar Land Rover’s Ralph Speth and Cairn Energy’s Simon Thomson, did not make it to the much-talked about meet.
Vodafone and Cairn, which have been at loggerheads with the Indian government on the issue of retrospective taxation, were represented at the summit by their India executives.
Among those who braved the Capital’s smog to be present at the summit right from the early morning photo-op with Modi and the UK PM Theresa May were chairman of insurance giant Lloyd’s Group John Nelson, BAE Systems chief executive Ian King, Standard Chartered chairman Sir John Wilfred Peace, Diageo CEO Ivan Menezes, Standard Life Chairman Gerry Grimstone, and Deputy Chairman & CEO of engineering consultancy Arup Group David Whittleton.
Others present were Reckitt Benckiser CEO Rakesh Kapoor and head of pharma major GlaxoSmithKline Sir Andrew Philip Witty. Also present were director general of Confederation of British Industry (CBI) Carolyn Fairbairn and Chairman of UK India Business Council Patricia Hewitt.
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The Indian side had better attendance. The delegation, led by Ajay Piramal, chairman of Piramal Enterprises, comprised Sunil Mittal, Uday Kotak, Analjit Singh, Tulsi Tanti, Atul Punj, Jyotsna Suri, Baba Kalyani, T K Kurien, among others. However, there was a twist in the leadership. While ousted Tata Sons Chairman Cyrus Mistry had headed the last meet and was also at the forefront of organising this year’s summit, no top executive from the Tata Group was present this time. Even other big businesses, including Reliance and Aditya Birla Group, did not have any top presence at the meet.
When asked about the missing Tata link at the event, a top executive said absence of that group, now in headlines every day, did not have any impact on the discussions.
Behind closed doors, Modi’s pet projects had a stamp on the forum’s discussions and much of those revolved around financial inclusion, health care and hygiene. Co-chair Ajay Piramal said the recent drop in India’s ease of doing business rankings was not discussed. “The fall in British investments was discussed. From what I understand, the government is working hard, and the partnership between the countries will only get stronger,” Piramal said.
Uday Kotak, managing director of Kotak Mahindra Bank, described the discussion as fruitful. “Significant discussions were held about financial inclusion. There was great desire of cooperation between the representatives of the two countries,” he said.
While the protectionist stance of the British government post-Brexit has kept the Indian information technology companies on tenterhooks, Kotak said from the Indian point of view, it could be an opportunity. Reckitt Benckiser CEO Rakesh Kapoor said Britain cannot ignore a vibrant economy like India, stating his own company intends to scale up investment in the country. That would make India among the top three investment destinations of the company in a few years.