MindRush 2014 gives insight into India Inc's future

The Business Today MindRush 2014 is being held at The Oberoi, New Delhi. More than 300 CXOs are participating for two days in stimulating sessions that will be a combination of discussions, brainstorming, spirituality, relaxation and entertainment.

Aroon Purie, chairman of the India Today Group highlighted the uptick in sentiment in corporate India and enumerated several points that indicate a turnaround may just be round the corner. Purie said that another measure of corporate leaders restoring faith in the Indian economy is deal-making picking up.

Glenn Saldanha, Chairman and Managing Director of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals said, India has a large pool of high-quality talent across all parts of the development cycle. But there is need for more and better trained manpower for specific areas of the R&D value chain.

Seen in the picture, founder and chairman of GMR Group.

A group picture of the participants of MindRush 2014.

HDFC CEO and vice chairman Keki Mistry said there was plenty of room for growth. "Estimates are that due to rapid urbanisation, demand is there for 19 million new (dwelling) units and some other estimates put it even higher at 40 million units. So there is plenty of opportunity."

From left to right: Manpreet Singh Chadha, joint MD, Wave Infratech,  N Chandrasekaran, TCS CEO and MD, management guru Ram Charan and  Aroon Purie, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, India Today Group.

Naina Lal Kidwai, chairperson of HSBC India, said India is going to have a very different banking system. "The new players under the new banking license as Payment Banks are going to be non-bank players like telcos, retailors and banking correspondents where technology plays a big role in reaching out to customers."

India Today Group Chairman Aroon Purie asked TCS CEO and MD N Chandrasekaran how he planned to stay on top. What about the future? "You got to be paranoid," Chandra replied.  "There is a culture of entitlement versus the culture of performance. We believe in the culture of performance. Nobody takes anything for granted."

Leadership and Motivation Expert Peter Docker says adaptive leadership allows leaders to expand skills. It requires empowerment and willingness to learn. It starts with a senior guy saying I don't know what to do but together we can learn our way through the problem. The most imporant tool here is the willingness to learn.