World Economic Forum 2022: The world is bullish on the Indian economy

The first post-pandemic in-person meeting at Davos took place with reduced participation amid a war raging in Europe, but witnessed spirited debates

The 52nd edition of the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum at Davos was subdued and dramatic for identical reasons — realism met optimism, as the post-pandemic gathering of global leaders occurred in the middle of a war in Europe. Davos took place with reduced participation owing largely to the pandemic, but witnessed passionate debates as a war raged in Europe.

Postponed several times since January 2020, the Davos gathering in May 2022 overcame health protocols and war pessimism with dignity and grace.

WEF restricted participation of delegates to be able to manage the health protocols better. The lack of a Russian delegation and a miniscule Chinese presence added to the relatively low-key Davos. It also helped that many heads of state chose to address the gathering virtually. Despite the reduced numbers, the discussions and debates at the annual meeting were voluble and passionate. Strong views on the role of Russia and Nato, combined with discussions on issues like climate change accountability and a rapidly transforming digital ecosystem, kept up the vigorous dialogues that Davos is known for.

“The Annual Meeting is the first summit that brings global leaders together in this new situation characterised by an emerging multipolar world as a result of the pandemic and war. The fact that nearly 2,500 leaders from politics, business civil society and media come together in person demonstrates the need for a trusted, informal and action-oriented global platform to confront the issues in a crisis-driven world,” said Klaus Schwab, founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum. The theme, History at a Turning Point: Government Policies and Business Strategies, resonated with participants and observers alike.

The Davos meeting focussed on six pillars within the theme. These were global and regional cooperation; economic recovery and growth; health and equitable societies; safeguarding climate; industry transformation; and the fourth industrial revolution.

The war zone in Europe triggered debates on tech-based attacks on critical infrastructure. Electrical grids, water reservoirs, telecom networks and even transport systems are targeted by hackers to attack countries. When any such systems get hacked, there is lingering damage to the economy. At Davos, this issue received much attention by global leaders, who are anxious about the changing contours of warfare.

According to WEF research, a significant incident could have devastating consequences for the economy, national security, or public health and safety. The sophistication of cyber threats coupled with the pace of digital transformation and connectivity exposes critical infrastructure to significant cyber risks with potential cascading effects on a large scale. Recent supply chain cyber-attacks across the world, including in India, have highlighted the importance of adapting existing public-private cooperation models to become more responsive and flexible.

‘Made in India’ products displayed at the India Lounge in Davos

Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said at Davos that the Colonial Pipeline attack in the US was a “real wake-up call” for the cybersecurity industry. “At the end of the day, we know that global infrastructure is all connected,” Easterly said. “We can’t just say we’re going to protect the American homeland or we’re going to protect a place in Europe. We know that we have to partner together to enable us to understand the threat, so we can drive down risks to our networks globally.”

For the first time, 18 global organisations from the oil and gas ecosystem came together to mitigate growing cyber risks, and pledged to promote cyber resilience. The global cost of cybercrime is expected to reach $10.5 trillion a year by 2025; the threat of infrastructure breakdown due to a cyberattack is the top personal concern for cyber leaders. “First endorsed by key CEOs in the oil and gas value chain, the Cyber Resilience Pledge is a landmark step as it signals recognition of the complexities of building a cyber-resilient industry ecosystem and a commitment towards collective action to achieve it,” said Alexander Klimburg, Head of the Centre for Cybersecurity at the Forum.

As in previous years, several groups of global leaders pledged their commitment to many such initiatives at Davos. The Jobs Consortium, a group of public and private sector leaders that focuses on investment in the jobs of tomorrow, held their inaugural meeting in Davos to drive a global recovery and investment agenda for the next two years. They aim to create growth in the jobs of tomorrow, new standards in the workplace and better wages for all, focusing on social, green and tech jobs as the high-growth, job-creating sectors of the future.

The Reskilling Revolution initiative, launched at the Annual Meeting in 2020, has now mobilised a community of over 50 CEOs, 350 organisations and 15 countries, all working towards a vision of giving one billion people better education, and reskilling and upskilling them.

A network of country accelerators in Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brazil, Cambodia, Georgia, Greece, India, Oman, Pakistan, South Africa, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, with support from Denmark, Finland, Singapore and Switzerland, and a consortium of the largest online learning platforms, are working together.

The World Investment for Development Alliance was launched, together with OECD Secretary-General Matthias Cormann, the World Bank, Unctad and other partners, to increase collaboration in addressing investment policy and practice. The Forum’s Platform for Trade and Investment, together with the Digital Cooperation Organi- sation, launched a Digital FDI initiative to support investment in the digital economy in developing countries.

The WEF convened Friends of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), a group of heads of state and business leaders, which advanced a framework on how public-private partnerships can support the implementation of the AfCFTA.

India at Davos

India was at the centre of many dialogues on emerging issues ranging from crypto technologies to climate change at the annual meeting of the WEF at Davos.

Indian companies and government representatives made the most of the absence of the Russian delegation and a surprisingly small Chinese presence of barely a dozen delegates. While Russia was denied participation at the Davos gathering, China’s lockdown conditions prevented a large presence. China sent its smallest official delegation ever, amid stringent quarantine rules due to its zero-Covid policy and its unpopularity because of “pro-Russia neutrality”. China was represented in only four of more than 200 sessions at WEF.

While Europe’s political leadership was focused on the war in Ukraine, business heads were eagerly scouting for options to diversify their trade and investments. For most of them India seemed the best option, with its political stability and reformist policies. The presence of central government ministers and five states that were competing for attention was perhaps the best symbol of India’s aggression to position itself as an attractive investment destination and a rapidly growing market. Many global investors endorsed India’s rising relevance in the world economy.

Even the technology dimension of India’s growth story was well represented by tech-based unicorns and legacy giants like Wipro, TCS, Infosys and Tech Mahindra. CP Gurnani, the MD and CEO at Tech Mahindra, told the WEF, “Today, for Tech Mahindra, I have a rural education programme being run in the metaverse, and remember, I’m talking of a country where the smartphone penetration is only 26 per cent.”

He added, “I have sports training being conducted in the metaverse; I have retail commerce happening in the metaverse. So, this evolution of web 3.0, blockchain, and metaverse is here to stay (and) the applications are endless.”

The Indian delegation was led by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, with Petroleum Minister Hardeep Puri and Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya speaking at several sessions. The delegation included several legacy corporate leaders like Sunil Mittal, chairman of Bharti Enterprises; Hari Bhartia, co-chairman, Jubilant Bhartia Group; Anish Shah, MD and CEO of Mahindra & Mahindra; Sanjiv Bajaj, chairman, MD and CEO of Bajaj Finserv; Sumant Sinha, chairman and MD, ReNew Power; Adar Poonawala, CEO, Serum Institute of India; and Pawan Munjal, MD and CEO, Hero MotoCorp.

They mixed with young unicorn founders like Nikhil Kamath of Zerodha; Prashant Pitti of Easemytrip; Ashish Singhal of Coinswitch and Vidit Atrey of Meesho. This was the first Davos outing for many young entrepreneurs. The government proudly referred to the rise of unicorns in India and the founders were pleasantly surprised by the attention they were getting from delegates from India and other countries.

WEF launched the India chapter of the Alliance of CEO Climate Action Leaders, to supercharge India’s climate action and decarbonisation efforts. “Clearly, we are moving toward green energy… (but) we can’t afford to get disrupted on the current. We have to make sure there is enough energy available to people,” Petroleum Minister Hardeep Puri said.

The aim of a 20 per cent ethanol blend has been pushed ahead from 2030 to 2025, he said, as green hydrogen, biofuel discovery, and production from alternate sources is being prioritised. “But 20 per cent blended fuel will become available in our petrol bunks by 1 April 2023, so we’re going to start on that,” Puri said. “It’s not only (about) what steps India is taking. If you make the transition to green energy, it should surely be anchored in a country with large demand and consumption on its own.”

Addressing a session on “Closing the vaccines gap”, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya extended support to Africa in augmenting the research and development capability of African countries on medical countermeasures.

India’s use of drones to provide essential healthcare services to people living in remote and hard-to-reach areas was showcased at Davos as a model that could be scaled up in other parts of the world. The results of a 45-day trial of delivery of Covid-19 testing samples, vaccines and medicines to a population of over 300,000 people living in forested Anantagiri hills in the Vikarabad district of Telangana were discussed.

The trial, which documented the first vaccine delivery beyond visual line of sight by 300 long-range drone sorties over 45 days, is the first successful trial of long-range vaccine delivery in Asia. Several other states in India have also used drones for vaccine and medicine delivery to overcome distances.

The report is part of global Medicine from the Sky done in partnership between WEF’s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the government of Telangana state, Apollo Hospital’s Healthnet Global and NITI Aayog.  

“India has unique skills and a very young population that works in its favour. India has to use this unique opportunity to modernise its economy,” President of WEF Borge Brende said in a media interview. “I am very bullish on India both in the long term and medium term.” This bullish approach to India seems to be spreading from Davos to the rest of the world.