India recently witnessed watershed election results, with the Bharatiya Janata Party coming to power with a massive majority. Expectations are high for the policy initiatives emerging from New Delhi. India’s recently announced Union Budget provides insight into the short to medium term priorities of the government, especially with respect to the challenge of economic growth.
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), was pleased to bring together a panel discussion featuring some of India’s preeminent business leaders who were in Washington as part of a CII-led CEOs delegation. The panel featured Ajay S. Shriram, Naushad Forbes, Chandrajit Banerjee, and Vikram Kirloskar. They discussed Indian industry’s expectations for the new Indian government, their perspective on the growth agenda as currently outlined, and their views on the future direction of the India-US bilateral partnership. Carnegie’s Jessica T. Mathews moderated.
Ajay Shriram
Mr. Ajay S. Shriram is the president of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), and chairman and senior managing director of DCM Shriram Limited. He also chairs its subsidiary company, Shriram Bioseed Ventures Ltd, and the governing body of Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC). Shriram is a trustee of SOS Children Villages of India and a patron of Save the Children India.
Naushad Forbes
Naushad Forbes is the vice president of CII and director of Forbes Marshall, India’s leading steam engineering and control instrumentation firm. He has been a lecturer and consulting professor at Stanford University in the Program in Science, Technology and Society from 1987 to 2004. He developed courses in technology and policy as well the management of technology in firms in newly industrialized countries.
Chandrajit Banerjee
Chandrajit Banerjee is the director general of CII and responsible for its overall operations. He has been responsible for the sectoral verticals, specifically, manufacturing, services, agriculture, and life sciences sectors, as well as small and medium sized enterprises. He has also led key policy work of CII in economic policy, financial services, and corporate governance. Banerjee was the first executive director of the National Foundation of Corporate Governance.
Vikram Kirloskar
Mr. Vikram Kirloskar is vice chairman of Toyota Kirloskar Motor Private Limited, and the chairman and managing director of Kirloskar Systems Ltd. He is responsible for partnering the Toyota group and starting a major automobile manufacturing industry in the state of Karnataka. He serves on the National Council of the Confederation of Indian Industry and is chairman of its Innovation Council.
Jessica T. Mathews
Jessica T. Mathews was appointed president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in 1997. Her career includes senior positions in the White House, State Department, Congress, Council on Foreign Relations, World Resources Institute, and the Washington Post.
This event is co-sponsored by the Confederation of Indian Industry
