CEOs mull on remedial measures to counter meltdown

BANGALORE, INDIA: The first day of BangaloreIT.biz, India's premier ICT event organised by the Dept. of IT, BT and Science & Technology, Government of Karnataka, STPI - Bangalore and MM Activ concluded with the CEO conclave. CEO’s of leading companies participated in the panel discussion on “Is India Inc ready for global melt down? And how?” The moderator of the discussion was Mr. E Raghavan - Editor (South) Economic Times.

The panelists’ included big names of the corporate world like B.V.Naidu - Group CEO, Vanpic Projects, N R K Raman, N Krishnan- Director General STPI, Ranjan Anandan, Managing Director, Microsoft India Pvt .Ltd, Sanjeev Sinha Managing Director, Siemens Information Systems, Vivek Mansingh Country Manager & Director, Dell Computer India, S Ramesh Inder Singh, IAS, Chief Secretary, Government of Punjab, Sham Banerji – Director, Corporate Business Development, Texas Instruments.

At the beginning of the discussion G Reddy, Karnataka Minister said, “For years Bangalore has provided the perfect platform for business and networking. The world is a global village and the economic meltdown has affected almost all the sectors. India has responded correctly and speedily to this. We have projects like NEGP, National E-Governance program, which provides excellent opportunity to the IT sector.”

P. Ravindranath, Director - Strategic Development - Government and Public Affairs - HP, “The risk of global recession looms large and the global community is stunned with the effect. The positive thing is that we have enough insights on the meltdown and we can take some measures.”

E. Raghavan Economic Times Editor South said, “Nobody can predict a meltdown well in advance to shield oneself from its affects. The only way to cope up with it is to live with it as it happens and put long term strategies in place to come out of the situation”

The focus of the discussion is to find solutions or remedial measures from the perspective of Indian businesses. More than the economic impact the panelists were discussing the impact on the personal life of an individual in particular and social life in general

Sanjeev Sinha – MD, Siemens Information Systems said, “Though the ill effects of the global meltdown will continue for some more time, the situation also opens up new opportunities and one should try to catch them”

The discussion brought light to the point that Indian market hasn’t changed but it is important to look at opportunities globally and one must stay focus on the bigger picture. India should explore new opportunities in the fields like renewable energy and medicine.

The discussion highlighted the social factor of the meltdown and its adverse effects on the consumerism.

B.V. Naidu, Group CEO, Vanpic Projects said, “The Indian outsourcing industry is an integral part of the global value chain and we cannot insulate it from the happenings elsewhere. Domestic market achieving a growth rate of 45 percent is a good development. Industry should re engineer their processes to take care of the networth of their shareholders.”