Last-minute changes galore

The opening session of the India Economic Summit titled, ‘India Economic Outlook’ was delayed by nearly half-an-hour, as Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had some other engagements. Initially, it was announced that the minister would join the participants at the end of the luncheon session. But later, when the session started, Bharti Enterprises Chairman Sunil Mittal joined the group of speakers, though his name did not figure in the programme sent out last week. The finance minister made some last-minute changes to his schedule to attend the second session, ‘The New Reality’, which was originally meant to be the opening address for World Economic Forum Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab. Mukherjee’s speech and Schwab’s address were clubbed together in the same session.