World Economic Forum on India
From Deliberation to Transformation
National Capital Region, Gurgaon, India 6-8 November 2012
India has reached a critical inflection point. Twenty years after the liberalization of the Indian economy, which unleashed an unparalleled period of sustained high growth, new challenges have emerged in the form of rising inflation, a falling growth rate, delays in much-needed reforms and the attendant waning of investor confidence. As India’s “summer of discontent” demonstrated last year, anti-corruption sentiment reached unprecedented levels, leading to one the largest civil society movements since Indian independence.
At the same time, India is expected to overtake Japan as the world’s third largest economy by 2015 and to surpass China as the most populous nation by 2030. The promise of favourable demographics, a rising middle class, improving trade relations with Pakistan and a successful corporate sector signal the potential to address present challenges and shape India’s next wave of economic growth and transformation in international affairs.
In this context, the World Economic Forum’s annual gathering in India of top thought leaders and decision-makers from government, industry and civil society will convene for the first time as the World Economic Forum on India under the working theme of “From Deliberation to Transformation.” After an intense year of national debate, the meeting will be an opportunity to outline a blueprint for a post-crisis India that can be a new model of pragmatic, practical and effective governance, rebuilding trust both in the region and in society to link leadership with livelihood.
- How can India rapidly apply technological innovations to improve governance practices and institutions to address obstacles to future growth such as corruption and bureaucratic inefficiency?
- How can India’s human capital development be improved by placing greater emphasis on advancing gender parity?
- How can India better leverage its demographic dividend to empower the next generation of leaders both within India and in South Asia?
- How can leaders balance the environmental impact of expanding consumption with sustainable solutions?
