Times Network India Economic Conclave 2019 North Chapter

Times Network, India’s premium broadcast network, organized the second regional chapter of its signature event, India Economic Conclave 2019 – North Chapter in New Delhi today. Driving the economic agenda from aspiration to action with its strategic region focused events, India Economic Conclave after the success of its first regional chapter in South (Bangalore), brings its next chapter in North, titled ‘The Make or Break States of the Indian Economy’, to focus on the economic challenges of North and Central states.

India Economic Conclave 2019 (IEC) - North Chapter is a definitive platform that aims to enable the rapid transformation of India to a global powerhouse by bringing together national and state-level policymakers, local businesses leaders, influencers and experts under one roof to discuss and explore growth opportunities in this region. Drawing a roadmap to achieve India’s $5 trillion GDP target in the next 5 years, IEC North Chapter threw light on the northern and central economic growth pillars, which play a significant role in the overall growth of the Indian economy, clocking higher than national average GDP growth. The conclave also focused on the laggard states facing GDP and growth slowdown by setting the stage for constructive dialogues and discussions on critical points concerning the economy. 

MK Anand, MD & CEO, Times Network delivered the welcome address and Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister for Law & Justice, Communications, Electronics & Information Technology during a fireside chat deliberated upon India’s current economic scenario and Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region, MoS PMO, Govt. of India shared his vision to power catch up states to national benchmarks and in a fireside chat, Anurag Thakur, Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs, deliberated on Northern States’ role in powering India to $5tn club. Trivendra Singh Rawat, CM, Uttarakhand reflected his thoughts on promoting branding of organic native products of Uttarakhand during a fireside chat. During a panel discussion, Syed Ata Hasnain, Lt Gen (Retd), shared thoughts on the evolving security scenario post Article - 370 and Combined threat of Pak – China. Gautam Gambhir, MP, BJP reflected his thoughts on the upcoming Delhi elections. 

Setting the context for IEC 2019 – North Chapter, MK Anand, MD & CEO, Times Network said, “India is an emerging superpower with a dynamic economic climate. With its large population and lower than average per capita output, North region is critical to India realising its growth potential. Correcting the catch-up States in fact is our biggest national opportunity in the next 5 years. IEC 2019 – North Chapter focuses on unearthing regional ambitions and developing the agenda for these critical states to contribute to India’s $5 trillion vision. The event assumes significance at a time when the Indian Economy is facing headwinds and it has become crucial for the business and political stakeholders to work together to put the growth wagon back on rails”.

Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister for Law & Justice, Communications, Electronics & IT said, “The fundamentals of Indian economy are very strong, inflation is under control, current account deficit is under control, fiscal deficit is under control and we have received highest FDI to the tune of $ 16 billion which is 28 per cent more than the previous year. Our foreign exchange reserve is among the most robust. So regardless of the global downturn, we are bound to bounce back because our economic fundamentals are strong. We envision India to be a hub of 5G R&D and want to leverage it for healthcare, education agriculture and the development of India. BSNL is India’s strategic interest and it will not close down.”

“Middle class is a big beneficiary of the Digital India and Startup India initiatives. The biggest thing that this government has done, is fulfilling the middleclass’ aspiration of building an “Honest India”, he further added.

Anurag Thakur, Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs said, “While the global GDP has suffered a drop from 3.8 to 3%, the IMF states that Indian economy is going strong with a projected growth rate of 6.1% in 2019 and 7% in 2020. We are currently the fastest growing economy in the world, along with China. We are well placed on our path to become a $5 trillion economy by 2025, a vison that is bound to become a reality. We are taking care of any challenges faced by the banking industry and NBFCs. Under the ‘Loan in 59 minutes’ scheme launched by Prime Minister Modi, more than 1,44,000 cases and over INR 47,000 crores have been sanctioned in less than one hour, boosting the startup environment. We are the among the top three startup nations in the world now. Multiple bold decisions which seemed unachievable earlier, like Section-370 abrogation, Triple Talaq judgement, corporate tax rate cut from 30% to 15%, have successfully been implemented in the recent past and much more is to come in the future. I’m extremely positive and confident about the $5 trillion vision becoming a reality very soon.”

Syed Ata Hasnain - Lt Gen (Retd) said, "I don’t think there could have been a better timing for abrogation of Article 370. Pakistan is economically down and out. If you are going for a 9billion dollar loan from IMF but get only 6 billion dollars and to Saudi Arabia for a 3billion dollar loan every six months, Pakistan is not in a position to fight a regular, conventional hot war. Pakistan cannot last for more than 4 days economically if they have to fight a conventional war against India and that’s why they keep threatening about nuclear weapons. It’s a sham. Wars will be hybrid. India failed to appreciate what role radicalism can play in hybrid war. While we do have programmes to counter radicalism, they are insufficient."

Gautam Gambhir, MP, BJP said, “AAP government has betrayed the people of Delhi, it has played with the emotions of people by making promises and never fulfilling them. They have done absolutely nothing on the pollution front and only thing we see is big advertisements. From education to health and women safety, they have done nothing. The only thing they done is playing the blame game. From the central government to the corporations, they blame everything to hide their failures. There is no shame in accepting failures and they must admit that they have been a complete failure. Instead we have a Chief Minister who goes on a dharna. This election is about the performance of the AAP government which is in the negative and Delhi will vote for BJP because that is the need of the hour.”

India Economic Conclave 2019- North Chapter presented by IDFC First Bank will be aired over a series of episodes on ET NOW, India’s leading English Business news channel.