The theme of the 23rd India Economic Summit, Building Centres of Excellence, acknowledged India's remarkable achievements in creating highly competitive and innovative companies. But more importantly, it also underscored the challenge of extending that success beyond traditional industry, urban and academic centres to rural communities, where 70% of the population still resides. The record 800 leaders from business, government and civil society, representing over 40 countries, were in strong agreement that, without building centres of excellence in new domains and states, the country's economic and demographic strengths could transform quickly into weaknesses in a highly-competitive global economy.

Tellingly, there was no evidence of complacency setting in as a result of the country's record GDP growth, strengthening currency and historically high equity markets. Indeed, the challenge of spreading higher growth across more state economies and developing industries, and into rural areas, was seen as remaining for a generation or more. Therefore, the mood at this year's Summit was about how to get things done in these areas, sooner and faster.

Discussions did not focus, as in the recent past, on how to achieve greater consensus among industry, state and national leaders around key growth challenges, but were directed instead at adopting and scaling grassroots innovations that are delivering faster and greater results on the ground.

It was in this spirit of getting things done faster that the India Economic Summit programme was designed to tap into the collective intellect, on-the-ground experience and global insight from among its community of stakeholders. There was perhaps no better symbol of this spirit than the introduction of the WorkSpace to the India Economic Summit, which offered a unique collaborative environment for decision-makers to co-design responses to address the big challenges of today and tomorrow. A series of highly interactive and professionally facilitated WorkSpace sessions focused on such topics as expanding India's competitive edge, developing a strategy for climate change, leveraging innovations from social entrepreneurs and building the new Indian multinational. We also published the India@Risk 2007 report in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). And, for the third consecutive year, the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship presented the India Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award for 2007 on the occasion of the Summit. We look forward to continuing to build on these successful initiatives in the coming years.

As you read the key points and data presented in this report, we look forward to hearing your thoughts and welcome your suggestions as we prepare the programme for the 24th India Economic Summit, scheduled for 16-18 November 2008. The challenges faced by India, and the world for that matter, are more complex, interrelated and intractable than ever before. With over two decades of commitment to addressing these challenges, we hope that the India Economic Summit can continue to serve you as an important platform for collaborative thinking and creative solutions.

W. Lee Howell
Senior Director, Head of Asia and Global Agenda