On Wednesday evening, a dream gathering of business leaders, political heavyweights and bureaucrats assembled at New Delhi’s Kamla Devi Complex, India International Centre. The occasion was the launch of former NITI Aayog CEO and India’s G20 Sherpa, Amitabh Kant’s book Made in India: 75 Years of Business and Enterprise. The book was launched by External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar, Chairperson PSEB and CMD, TAFE, Mallika Srinivasan, president Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Sanjiv Bajaj, CEO and MD Tata Steel, TV Narendran, and former president of FICCI and Chairperson of the Indian Sanitation Coalition, Naina Lal Kidwai.
Addressing the audience Kant said, “This book looks at almost the whole history [of India] in the last 75 years. At the time we got colonised, India had about 24% of global GDP. By the time Britishers left, we had just about 5% of global GDP. We moved from British Raj to License Raj. We saw a huge amount of stranglehold through licensing, Industrial Disputes Act, labour laws and more.” He further said that all through this period, the Indian private sector enterprise has grown and flourished despite all controls. “I have been a long-term believer that if India has to grow at high rates, of 8% -9%, per annum year after year, three decades or more, or if India must become a five trillion dollar or 10 trillion-dollar economy, the private sector has to be the wealth creator. No country in the world has grown on the back of public sector.” While he emphasised on the private sector being the wealth creator, he added, that, “the government has to be the facilitator, a catalyst and has to work on education, health and nutrition and bring in the right policy framework.”
Talking about the book he said, “It’s about how the private sector must flourish in India and how the government must retreat in a vast range of areas. It also brings in my experiences from the time of 2014 when I was the secretary of DPIIT on how we brought in ease of doing business.” He also added, “The book brings out all the challenges before India and it really brings out on how we need to technologically leap forward in many sunrise areas of growth...” “Once that unleashing of private sector happens, India will not only become the third largest economy in the world, but also raise the per capita income of Indians very rapidly forward and become a highly developed nation.”
{{/usCountry}}Talking about the book he said, “It’s about how the private sector must flourish in India and how the government must retreat in a vast range of areas. It also brings in my experiences from the time of 2014 when I was the secretary of DPIIT on how we brought in ease of doing business.” He also added, “The book brings out all the challenges before India and it really brings out on how we need to technologically leap forward in many sunrise areas of growth...” “Once that unleashing of private sector happens, India will not only become the third largest economy in the world, but also raise the per capita income of Indians very rapidly forward and become a highly developed nation.”
{{/usCountry}}During the launch, Jaishankar said, “One of my rules is, never speak about a book you haven’t read. I want to assure all of you that it’s a very easy read. It [the book] has got a lot of data, and references but it’s also very nicely anecdotal, so you actually relate to people and situations. It’s a genuinely thoughtful book. It raises a lot of issues; it gives you explanations and directions. But it leaves you with that feeling that here is a very important subject which is evolved in this particular manner and it’s now for the reader to reflect on how to take it forward”
The launch was followed by panel discussion. Among those in attendance at the event included German ambassador to India, Phillip Ackerman, New Zealand’s High Commissioner, David Pine, director of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Subodh Kumar Jaiswal and industrialist, Sunil Kant Munjal.
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