A Developed India by 2047: Churning of ideas at BS Manthan

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, and Railways & Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw along with other thought leaders will discuss the road ahead at the summit next week

For India, which aspires to become a developed country by 2047, what would it take to realise this ambition? Top minds from the world of policy, government and industry, both from India and abroad, will come together in New

Delhi next week to deliberate this question at Business Standard’s national summit of thought leaders, called ‘Business Manthan’.

The two-day inaugural edition of the annual summit, which marks 50 years of Business Standard’s publication, will begin with a keynote address by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on March 27 at Bharat Mandapam. Dissecting thoughts centred around – but not restricted to — business, economics and information technology will be Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, Union Railways and Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, and

G20 sherpa and former NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant. Industry leader and Maruti Suzuki chairman R C Bhargava, Info Edge founder Sanjeev Bikhchandani (often referred to as the father of Indian startups), Amazon country manager (consumer business) Manish Tiwary will be among the star speakers at the mega meet.

The summit will conclude with an address by Finance Secretary TV Somanathan on March 28.

With the overarching theme of “A Developed India by 2047: The Roadmap”, the conversations will span a vast spectrum: How does the world view India? How does India view itself ? What are the strengths it needs to tap into and the challenges it must tide over? How should it address the climate crisis?

Financial Times Chief Economics Commentator Martin Wolf will join in to speak on the “crisis of democratic capitalism”, turning the spotlight on India — the world’s largest and one of the most vibrant capitalist democracies.

Former Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran will be in a conversation with former National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon and former Indian High Commissioner to the UK Nalin Surie on how India can shed the western world’s China Plus One tag.

To be recognised as a developed country, India would have to fire on all cylinders on multiple fronts. This means the Centre and the states will need to work in tandem instead of rowing in different directions. Contours of the complex Centre-state relations in a country as dynamic as India will be discussed in a conversation between former Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian and former Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

The country’s worryingly poor air quality, flagged by an IQAIR report this week, and its many environmental issues will be taken up during a panel discussion. Its financial markets and their potential in defining India's growth story will be discussed threadbare with Gquant Investech’s Founder Shankar Sharma.

India’s rising influence in the world of sports and luxury, both areas where a brand once built finds emotional resonance and long-lasting following, will be part of the conversations. From artificial intelligence to renewable energy, from the fire-in-thebelly startup ecosystem to the need to nurture agriculture, “Business Manthan” hopes to trigger a churning of ideas in various spheres. It also hopes to look back – and ahead – at Business Standard’s own journey through the eyes of those who have kept their finger on the pulse of the newspaper, which was launched on March 27, 1975 at 40 paise 50 years ago.