125-member Indian delegation heads for Davos

A 125-member strong Indian delegation will attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting at Davos, Switzerland this week, where they will highlight efforts being undertaken to turn around the economy.
The annual talk-fest of rich and powerful from across the world in snow-laden Alpine resort town of Davos will be attended by nearly 40 heads of government among more than 2,500 global leaders from over 100 countries.
Those scheduled to participate from India include Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma, Planning Commission Deputy Chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Union Ministers Kamal Nath, Praful Patel and Jyotiraditya Scindia, as also top industry leaders such as Cyrus Mistry, Mukesh Ambani, Azim Premji, Sunil Mittal and Adi Godrej.

Top industry chamber CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) President Kris Gopalakrishnan, who is also Vice Chairman of IT giant Infosys, is one of the Co-Chairs of this year's WEF Annual Meeting.
CII said in a statement here that the Indian delegation at the summit will highlight the efforts taken by the government to turn the economy around.
"It will focus on the investor-friendly measures that have been taken such as easing restrictions on foreign investment, resolution of bottlenecks in project clearance and taking steps towards fiscal consolidation," CII added.

The meeting is being held at a time when global economic crises have given way to an increased need for further structural reforms in emerging and developed markets and India is no exception to the rapid economic changes being witnessed in the world.

"India is shaking off its sluggishness and is witnessing a rebound in growth. According to the World Bank's Global Economic Prospects 2014, the Indian economy is expected to witness a growth of 6.2 per cent in 2014-15 and then to 6.6 per cent in the following year," the industry body said.
Along with Gopalakrishnan, others co-chairing the meeting include Nigeria-based Dangote Group chief Aliko Dangote, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Chairman Jiang Jianqing, Novartis CEO Joseph Jimenez, Total chief Christophe de Margerie, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and Rockefeller Foundation President Judith Rodin.
Among the top global leaders, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Australia's Tony Abbott, Japan's Shinzo Abe, Italy's Enrico Letta, Mexican President Enrique Penaa Nieto, South Korean President Park Geun-Hye and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff will address the meeting.

From India, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, as also CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee, HCL Chairman Shiv Nadar, Hero Group's Pawan Munjal and Sunil Munjal, Jubilant Bhartia Group's Hari S Bhartia, SBI Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya, TCS chief N Chandrasekaran, Bharat Forge chief Baba Kalyani, banker Uday Kotak and Fortis group's Malvinder Mohan Singh would also be present.