Setting the tone for 'The India Phenomenon', the theme for this year's Confluence-2006, IIM-A's international business summit, Shekhar Gupta, Group CEO, The Indian Express group told a surprised audience that India's growth story was the result of politicians who are beginning to realise the importance of being performance-oriented. | |
| Joining him in the introductory session was Subodh Bhargava, Chairman-VSNL who spoke of India as a phenomenon that was waiting to happen for a long time. |
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| Gupta, who spoke of the political scenario in the country and its dimensions in development said that Indian politicians are among the most hardworking people in India who have the pressure of balancing inter-party relations, power equations, media and public pressure yet are never appreciated for their efforts. |
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| He also lauded the progress made by people from middle-class especially the 'HMT' segment which according to him stands for 'Hindi Medium Type'. |
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| "The 'HMTs' who were largely ignored as having potential in favour of people from distinguished backgrounds are the ones who are fuelling the growth story. They are present all over in small towns and cities and leading a drive in economy with their strategies, " said Gupta. |
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| Bhargava spoke of how India's economy consisted of mindsets like 'Lunch comes free', 'It pays to be a criminal' in the past which is being rapidly replaced by corporate leadership, emotive skills and a stress on the right values. |
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| He credited India's growth to the emerging face of India inc and opined that challenges ahead comprised of finding a way to upgrade technology and building better supply chains. |
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| Day two of Confluence will see a host of management games preliminaries as well as other panel discussions and lecture sessions. |
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