Dinner diplomacy?

Every year, industry chamber Ficci partners with the Indian Banks’ Association to organise a banking summit in Mumbai. The original programme for this year’s summit, due on September 4, 5 and 6, included a special dinner address by foreign delegates between 6.30 p m and 7.15 p m on the first two days. A revised programme now omits these items and instead schedules dinner between 5.45 p m and 6.30 p m. True, this may be standard dining time in the West but it is way too early for Indians, who tend to be late diners and presumably make up the majority of the people participating in the summit.