India-EU CEOs' forum fails to take off

The India-EU chief executive officers' forum, which is slated to hold its round table meeting on October 12, has so far failed to evoke an enthusiastic response from the European corporate sector.

Barring companies like Fiat and Ferrari, Royal Sun Alliance, Wartsila Corp and Voith Siemens Hydro Power Generation, other big companies are not yet part of the forum.

Industry sources said India had initially proposed a 15-member CEOs' delegation comprising CII and FICCI members. The EU has so far indicated just 10 members from its side and has requested New Delhi to consider pruning its list.

Some of the proposed members from the EU side include Luca Cordero Di Montezemolo, Vice President of UNICE, President of Confindustria and CEO of Fiat and Ferrari, Franz Humer, CEO of Roche, Ole Johansson, President and CEO of Wartsila Corp, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, CEO of Nokia Corp and Dr Hubert Lienhard, CEO of Voith-Siemens Hydro Power Generation.

"There is still no final position on whether the CEOs' forum will have 10 members from each side or 15," the industry source said.

The names of the CEOs from the India include Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman and Group Managing Director of Bharti Enterprises, K V Kamath, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of ICICI Bank, Ravi Ruia, Vice Chairman Essar Group, Deepak Puri, CMD of Moser Baer India Ltd, A M Naik, CMD of L&T Ltd, Saroj Kumar Poddar, Chairman Gillette India Ltd, Gautam Thapar, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Ballarpur Industries Ltd and S Ramadorai, CEO of TCS. Sources said the European Commission has circulated a concept paper on the possible modalities for the CEO round table.

The paper has mooted that the round table should be an autonomous body driven by the business community which should set the objectives and agenda of the meetings.

According to the paper, the central idea of the round table should be to give business people an opportunity to develop its recommendations on the basis of its activities and practical experiences in the respective markets and domains. "It should be a business-driven process, where business leaders can work together and present their joint proposals to EU and Indian decision makers on a regular basis," the paper said.