Speakers and panelists at the CII's Conference on Achieving 10% GDP Growth were united in their belief that India will quickly achieve this impressive, double-digit output target, and came together to identify structures which need to be put in place to realize India's true potential, which they see as much higher.

Business leaders from a 13 member delegation which form the CII CEO's Mission to the United Kingdom on 19-20 June 2008 shared the platform with prominent UK politicians to discuss India's growth trajectory and identify ways of augmenting trade ties between India and the United Kingdom and exploring opportunities for catalyzing the bilateral economic relationship between the two countries.

K V Kamath, President, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) opened proceedings by identifying the robust service-driven economy as the primary driver of India's ascent towards consistent GDP growth of 10% and shared his hopes that the renaissance of a lean and financially-sound manufacturing industry, supported by unprecedented investment levels, would accelerate GDP growth through the double-digit threshold and way beyond.

To an audience which included UK government minister Liam Byrne MP and former minister Patricia Hewitt MP, Indian business leaders including Cobra Beer's Lord Karan Bilimoria, Max India's Mr Analjit Singh, Avantha Group's Mr Gautam Thapar and Dabur India's Dr Anand Burman suggested education, health and infrastructure as the key deliverables to support what remains enormous untapped potential from India's huge population of working age.

With UK-India trade reaching £8.7 billion annually and India's trade surplus with the UK now standing at £ 785 Million, UK politicians discussed a series of new initiatives to improve Indian access to the UK, which will impact trade, investment, education and immigration. 

"The discussions from our distinguished speakers this morning give us even greater confidence that India is on a sustainable growth trajectory, and that an important component of that growth will be supported by our interactions with the UK," said Mr Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII. "From educating a new generation of Indian business leaders to acting as one of our most important trading partners, the UK relationship, founded in mutual trust and driven by bilateral investment, is one of the pillars on which India's remarkable progress stands."

Indian High Commissioner, Mr Shiv Shankar Mukherjee also addressed the Conference.

Mr Venu Srinivasan, Vice President, CII, echoed Mr Banerjee's remarks, emphasizing the advantage India enjoys when supported by such a dynamic mix of business and political talent both domestically and overseas. 

Sourced From: Confederation of Indian Industry