Managing Risk: New Approach to Sustainable Growth – Shri Kapil Sibal, Minister of Telecom and IT


I think the greatest risk taker in life is a politician, because even when he detects the risk, the emerging risk, he cannot avert it, but embraces it, and then at the end attempts to manage it. So, I think if you were to do studies on the life of a politician, and how knowingly he embraces risks and manages them, it will be a great study for management institutes.

Every time in the morning you get up, you take a bus, you take a risk. You walk out on the street, you cross the road, you take a risk. You go out in a restaurant and eat; you take a risk,because there’s nothing that happens in life without a risk.

Knowing well that you are at risk all the time, you should constantly be conscious of the fact that you have to manage it if you want to survive, and that we try and do in our daily lives. But that’s of course at the individual level. When you get onto a plane for example, there is very little you can do, because you cannot manage that risk. There’s a machine that flies you, there’s a pilot who takes care of the machine and you are at the mercy of someone else. So, someone else is managing your risk, because he has to make sure that you actually reach the point where you want to go, without risking your life. So, in a sense, somebody else is managing your risk. Then, of course, when you go to larger entities like social structures: the state, the national and the global economy, there is nobody who is managing that risk for you.

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Future of Indian IT and Knowledge Industry – Pramod Bhasin, Non-Executive Vice Chairman and former President and CEO, Genpact

Pramod Bhasin is the Non-Executive Vice Chairman and former President and CEO of Genpact.

Reshaping the IT and knowledge based professional services organizations of tomorrow is critical for us because that’s where we belong. Let me try and address it in a number of different ways as to where I think we can take this if we really take it to our full potential, both as a country and as an industry.

Firstly in my view, this industry has barely got off the blocks. I hope others on the panel will agree. But do you know that 15-20 years is very young for any industry; we have years to go ahead of us, we have miles, miles to go before we sleep and the range of opportunities and the range of potential types of businesses that we could is enormous. It is ours to take! Given our demographics, given our population, given where our country is sitting in terms of costs and as a developing country, still the opportunity to get beyond what we do in our industry today, is immense.

It may often seem choppy, it may often seem difficult because as the developed world, Europe and America and all those other places, goes through their ups and downs, we will always feel the heat. But the fact is that our industry grew and NASSCOM predictions talk about a 13 to 15% growth. These are astonishing growth rates for an industry that is large; a hundred billion dollars. A hundred billion dollar industry growing at about twenty per cent for the last ten years is an astonishing number by any standards.
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Pursuit of Inclusive Growth – Shri P Chidambaram, Union Minister of Finance

P Chidambaram is the Union Minister of Finance

I’m very happy to be here to inaugurate the 38th National Management Convention. The subject is important. We are on the threshold of the 12th plan which will begin in April 2012. The theme of the 11th plan was faster and more inclusive growth and the theme of the 12th plan is also faster, more inclusive and higher growth. In the initial years of economic reforms and liberalisation, the emphasis was and I think rightly on growth. I think we need to get away from our belief that India can’t grow at more than 5% or so and that with reforms, with liberalisation with greater openness and competition India can grow at 8 or 9 % was something we had to believe in first before we could have achieved it. It took some time for the Indian people including the business community to believe that we have a capacity to grow at more than 8%.
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Future of Indian Management – Ratan Tata, Chairman of Tata Group

Ratan N Tata is the Chairman of Tata Group

On an evening like this one tends to be overwhelmed when you, if you might rendered a bit naked in terms of your past and even more embarrassing when what one has to say is nice and flowery so as I set listening to this my mind went back to the late eighties where we had all come to believe that JRD Tata who I love and adore like a father was immortal, one didn’t think what the Tata group would be without him and then one day all of that changed and he called me & told that he would like to step down. He was 90 years old and I would take over. I had the same sense of being lost when I was 17 years old and started flying.  Continue reading

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It’s the Age of Women – Sangeeta Talwar, Managing Director, NDDB Dairy services & Former Executive Director, Tata Tea India

Sangeeta Talwar is the Managing Director at NDDB Dairy services & Former Executive Director at Tata Tea India – Tata Global Beverages

To move up the corporate ladder, you must be someone who’s “recognized and trusted”, than just being “the busy bee sitting in the corner room”.

According to popular study, it is believed that corporates with women have better profitability. But what is most important is how to recruit women talent, train them and most of all retain them!

Looking at how women are perceived in the corporate world today, we must first look at stereotypes. Pretty? Yes, also a mother. Proud? Don’t know, but should be perhaps. Accept some of the things about yourself. Yes, you do look pretty, presentable and value some of those good things that you bring to life. It’s even worse to try and do reverse on stereotypes, don’t try to be a super human being, you are not a super man or woman. However, there are certain irrational biases that exist about women. May be women are not good at reading maps and doing mechanical things, but they are wonderful team makers! They are better sniffers than men, that’s why they can prepare for the uncertainties of tomorrow. Continue reading

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Technology leading to Good Governance – Nandan Nilekani, Chairman of the new Unique Identification Authority of India

Nandan Nilekani is Chairman of the new Unique Identification Authority of India

Before I start talking about technology and intrusive growth, we need to understand that the challenge is very clear. We need to address the need for aspiration as we are a high aspiration society and we must address the challenge of migration for social welfare.

It’s critical to understand why technology is so strategic in solving the problem! I would like to cite five key trends in technology that will pave the path for improved public governance.

1. Ubiquitous spread of communication – millions of people with mobile phones
2. Communication revolution will get newer and faster technologies like broadband, 3G, national fiber network
3. Everybody in some sense will be connected
4. More apps on the cloud

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New Age of Management – Shri Kamal Nath, Union Minister for Urban Development

Kamal Nath is Hon’ble Union Minister for Urban Development, Government of India

AIMA’s Foundation Day is also celebrated as the Management Day of the country. How much management has changed from the first foundation day and even from the 46th Management Day that happened 10 years ago?

The relevance of management education needs to be looked at. This is a question that is discussed in top B schools. Not only should management change, but management education should change. So here we have got to reappraise what should management be. Management doesn’t only effect balance sheet or the company but all stakeholders and the society at large. Continue reading

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What I did right – Sanjeev Kapoor, World Renowned Chef

Sanjeev Kapoor is a world renowned Indian Chef.

What I want to share with you may be things which I have done right in my life, may be you can pick up some threads and you can do things which will probably make or give people a perception of being successful. Why I said perception because no matter what you earn, you would also be the same person and success failure, good bad ugly they are just perceptions. There is nothing but what people think of what you are and who you are. Normally at the core at the heart you would always be the same person. You try and make yourself better for yourself and when you do that, more often than not, people around you also start seeing you in a better way.

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My Formula for Success – BJ Panda, Former Member of Parliament

Mr BJ Panda, Then member of Parliament.

I want to share with you some of my life’s lessons. You must have heard “Do what you love doing and you’ll never have to work another day in your life”.

I have personally experienced this. I started out as student being very fond of languages and the studies in humanities which includes history and English but my parents told me that I must do something more practical and study science and engineering, which I did. I did have the marks for it but I gradually found that I found much more satisfaction in doing things that came naturally to a student of English and history than to a student of engineering and management and in a way I turned full circle because now in public life I find that I have to communicate a lot and if I have to communicate a lot I don’t know how much engineering helps me but the point of all this is that the opportunities in India that are coming up are phenomenal and they are across the board. Continue reading

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Indian Music – Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Renowed Sarod Maestro

Ustad Amjad Ali Khan is famous sarod maestro

Namaskar!

One lady journalist met me just now and asked me, “What are you talking on, what is your subject?” I said, like my music, when I come on the stage I am absolutely blank, I don’t know what I am going to perform. What raag, what taal – everything happens on the stage, unlike the European musicians compositions written by Beethoven, Bach etc. In western classical, the orchestra rehearses it a 100 times; that is their culture. I admire the discipline of their music, their way of life. They write music, they read music, they prepare and they maintain discipline which we lack unfortunately. Continue reading
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