In the first of a series of online, agenda-setting debates organised by the Financial Times and The Indian Express, policy, business and finance leaders from India and overseas will on Thursday gather for a discussion on India’s economic and business future.

Kicking off the event titled ‘India’s Quest for Economic Power’ as the keynote speaker will be finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in conversation with journalists from both FT and The Indian Express.

‘India’s Place in the Post-Pandemic World’ is the broad theme under which this series will run. With the Covid-19 pandemic and the second wave of infections clouding the outlook for India’s economic and business growth, the discussions will cater around what should be the government’s key policy priorities to rebuild the economy to ensure a resilient, sustainable recovery, and to attract foreign investments. Pending structural reforms are another key theme that will be under focus.

Discussion with Sitharaman will be followed by a panel discussion on sustained growth with Jahangir Aziz, head, emerging markets economics, JP Morgan; Rohini Malkani, senior V-P, credit ratings, global sovereign ratings, DBRS Morningstar; and KV Subramanian, chief economic adviser; and P Anbalagan, CEO, Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) to be moderated by Amy Kazmin, South Asia Bureau chief, Financial Times.

Even before the shock of Covid-19, India’s economy had been losing momentum with growth slowing steadily. Now, after a large GDP contraction due to the pandemic, medium- to long-term prospects remain uncertain amid the second wave of infections.

Martin Wolf, chief economics commentator, Financial Times, will deliver a keynote address on India in the post-Covid world economy, followed by a round of discussions on the subject of whether Indian companies can compete globally. This comes at a time when larger companies are seen to have weathered the shock much better than smalller ones, with profits supported by cost-cutting, and improved market share gained at the expense of weaker rivals, even as most smaller firms are still burdened by heavy debts, disruption in supply chains and weak demand.

The participants include Sidharth Nath Singh, Cabinet minister of micro, small & medium enterprises (MSME), export promotion, textile, Khadi, village industries, sericulture, in the government of Uttar Pradesh; Naushad Forbes, co-chairman, Forbes Marshall; Shobana Kamineni, executive vice-chairperson, Apollo Hospitals; and Manish Sabharwal, chairman and co-founder, Teamlease Services.

Source : PTI