More than 1,000 delegates, more young than old, gathered at the CII’s first Young India (YI) summit on Wednesday. After exchanging views on “Unleashing the India Opportunity” and the Indian economy’s ability to “make people feel good” the attendees were instructed on making India “shine” by men and women who have made it big before they turned forty. “If we’re saying there is an India opportunity, then there must be a way to get there too,” said Pramath Sinha, a principal at research firm McKinsey and Co. “Around 16 per cent of currently employable Indians are jobless. To fill this gap and generate additional employment for 75 mn people by then, we need to grow the economy at 10 per cent or more,” he added. The CII also wants to channelise the massive human resource potential of Indian youth and “take the economy on the high growth path.” We’re happy the very first YI summit has invited such outstanding response said Sanjay Reddy, head of the CII’s Young India wing. He added, “We’ve had enough of taking from the country and not giving back. The summit will be inclusive of all sections of society even in the future. Our aim is to make people feel responsible for what happens in the country.” YI has eight chapters in tier-two cities including Chandigarh, Vishakhapatnam and Ahmedabad, four centres in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and the North East Region and one each in London, Singapore, New York and Washington. “In three to five years, we will be truly global, with over a 100 centres where ever there are young Indians,” Reddy said. CII’s optimism was shared by Sulajja Motwani, Joint Managing Director, Kinetic Engineering and MD, Kinetic Finance. “I’m sure India will be a economic superpower—we only needs to change our attitude,” she said. Sanjiv Goenka, vice chairman, RPG Enterprises said, “We have grown up with this concept of ownership of factories. Today with half our population living under the poverty line, we need a paradigm shift.” The YI summit will be an annual CII presentation. This year’s summit was inaugurated by Planning Commission Member NK Singh, who said there were five challenges Indians would have to face in the near future. The first of these is demographic — if the problems like labour prices, migration, health infrastructure and development are to be addressed, we have to start with giving responsibility to the youth.
