America
US, India CEOs seek joint system for implementing advice
By
Arun KumarWashington, Sep 21
Indian and American CEOs
would recommend the two governments set up a "joint management operating
system" to ensure implementation of the recommendations of their CEO
Forum.
This emerged from a discussion here Monday as part of the
US-India CEO forum kicking off the crucial Strategic and Commercial
Dialogue between the two countries ahead of Prime Minister Narendra
Modi's third summit with President Barack Obama next week.
Participating
in the discussion, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, chairperson and managing
director of Biocon, said: "Enabling private sector R&D leadership is
a big focus of the Modi government."
"Moving in the right
direction is one thing, but we want to see important reforms sooner than
later," she said in the discussion on "Deepening Bilateral Economic
Engagement".
"We can only take millions of people out of poverty
if we have vibrant economic growth," said Sunil Mittal, founder and
chairman of Bharti Enterprises.
"We're on the cusp of something
that could make India a really productive economy," said David Cote,
chairman and CEO of Honeywell, and US co-chair of the forum.
Chip
Kaye, co-CEO of Warburg Pincus, said he was not sure there was another
country in the world with the economic potential of India.
"Problem is translation of potential into reality," he added.
W.
James McNerney, Jr., chairman of the board of The Boeing Company, who
moderated the discussion, said he had seen lot of fast track initiatives
in India, but eventually the bureaucracy gets even with politician.
"What will happen this time?" he wondered.
Seeking speeding up of arbitration in India, McNerney said: "Better to have bad news in 6 months than good news in 5 years."
Participating
in a another panel discussion, Fred Bergsten, senior fellow and the
director emeritus of the Peterson Institute for International Economics,
said: "India could be the next economic miracle 'IF' they undertake
bold reforms"
"Without 'competitive liberalization', India can
not sustain 8 percent growth," he said in the discussion on "the
Economic and Strategic Imperatives of Enhanced Bilateral Trade".
"Major
impediments to India's economic growth are now primarily domestic,"
said Pravin Krishna, professor of international economics and business
at Johns Hopkins University.
Ashley J. Tellis, senior associate
at the Carnegie Endowment, said "the US has made a major bet on India,
out of American self interest".
US and India both stand to gain
from deeper economic integration, he said, noting pessimism on economy
comes from corrosive domestic politics, and opposition for its own sake.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at [email protected])