Economy to grow faster on strength of human capital, says TCS boss

OST Business Bureau

Bhubaneswar, Sep 21:

CEO and MD of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) N Chandrasekaran today hoped Indian economy would grow faster in the coming days on the strength of its huge potential in human capital.

“Our fundamental strength for the next decades is the talent that we have and the country’s huge working population will make critical contributions in various sectors”, he said at the 4th National Finance Conclave of School of Management, KIIT University (KSOM) here today. He was speaking on the topic “Indian Economy: Can the Good Times be Back?”

While India’s short term concern is devaluation of the rupee, sustained economic growth is the key concern in the long term, Chandrasekaran said, adding that a transformation can be brought about by technology and investments in critical sectors.

Highlighting the positive side, the TCS chief stated that industries have grown phenomenally in the last 20 years. During the last decade, industries have contributed significantly in terms of exports which at present stands at $ 85 billion, he said.

Attributing the present crisis to a global slump in demand, he said all emerging markets – India, China and Brazil – have shown incredible growth.

The conclave had a very engaging panel discussion, which featured H K Pradhan, Senior Professor, XLRI, Paresh Gupta, CFO, Jubilant Biosys, Mythili Bhusnurmath, Consulting Editor, Times of India Group and Brajamohan Misra, Officer-in-charge, Department of Economic and Policy research, RBI.

The panelists focused on three significant problems that the country is dealing with – external vulnerability, high gold imports widening the CAD and better market sentiments outside causing capital flight.

Ensuring ease of doing business, better management of external factors, improvement of regulatory and policy environment and improving the educational system were some of the measures suggested.

A Samanta, Founder of KIIT & KISS, said that KSOM has a long history of academic excellence, providing industry-focused management education.