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| India Business
Forum 2008 is London Business School’s sixth
annual day long conference with a focus on India.
It reflects our ongoing commitment to the region.
An audience of 300-400 business, academia, government
leaders, media representatives and students get
an opportunity to engage with experts involved
in business in the region. |
| Background : |
| At
its current growth trajectory, the Indian
market will undergo a major transformation
over the next two decades. Income levels
will triple and India will climb from its
position as the 12th largest consumer market
today to become the world’s fifth-largest
consumer market by 2025.Over 291 million
people will move from desperate poverty
to a more sustainable life, and India’s
middle class will swell by over five times
from its current size of 50 million to 280
million people. By 2025 over 23 million
Indians will number among the country’s
wealthiest citizens. Indian spending patterns
will also evolve, with basic necessities
such as food declining in relative importance,
and categories such as housing and health
care growing rapidly.
This consumer
growth will require an enormous amount of
investment in a variety of sectors. Some
of this will be in the traditional service
sectors such as information technology,
media, communications and financial services.
A large proportion of this will be in sectors
which have been traditionally neglected,
such as hospitality, consumer, retail and
healthcare among others. |
| Objective : |
This
conference aims to highlight the opportunities
in certain sectors of the economy, the challenges
faced by policy makers in paving the way
for the growth, and the evolution of the
Indian consumer over the last quarter of
a century as the ultimate decision maker.
Spanning across a broad range of industry
segments, the conference will address these
key questions and more that are at the fore-front
of India’s growth story today.
- What are the short and
long-term prospects for specific industry
segments?
- Where are the opportunities
for investment?
- What are the policy level
barriers to growth in certain sectors?
- Will the consumer led
investment cycle be sustainable, or will
it lead to a growing divide between the
haves and the have-nots?
- Is there a need for regulated
FDI, or should the Government allow foreign
money to move in and out of the country
more freely in some of these sectors?
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| Format of Event |
| The
conference will be a day-long event starting
with a breakfast keynote, panel discussions and ending with
networking drinks. |
| Keynote Addresses |
| Keynote
speakers will address the broader areas
of growth or concern for the economy, and
aim to highlight some of the overarching
stories that underlie India’s growth
story. |
| Panel |
The
panels will focus on the four prongs of
research, entrepreneurship, investment and
policy. Macroeconomic research into consumer
patterns and behaviour often paves the way
forward for investor interest in a sector.
This leads to investment by entrepreneurs
and investors. Policy is the key pillar
that supports and often regulates the direction
in which the sector progresses.
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The Investment Climate
India already has more middle-class people on a purchasing power parity basis than the entire population of the USA. The rapid
growth in GDP has been fuelled by the increased spending power of the Indian middle class.
The competitive demands for enhanced goods and services and product choice/quality are creating further openings for international
financial services groups, private equity players and international investors. This
panel aims to address this growth story, and how the investment climate will shape up in the next few years. It will also address
some of the challenges being faced by the investors in the current investing climate.
Balancing the market
and social demands
The rapid growth of India’s
spending power is manifest most in the growth
of the consumer goods industry. Retail sales
in India's consumer goods market are expected
to grow to USD 400 billion by 2010, making
it one of the world's five biggest. At the
same time, there have been regulatory changes
that have allowed foreign players to play
an active role in the retail sector. Organised
retail is expected to increase from 3% of
retail sales to 10% by 2010. The spending
boom that has spread to India’s Tier
2 cities has led to increased demand for
everyday goods. This panel will delve into
the prospects for this sector, and the investment
opportunities that present themselves.
Some sub-sectors
that the conference will cover include retailing
across luxury goods, health & personal
care and food & beverages.
Is it just
the beginning?
Merrill Lynch has forecasted that
the Indian realty sector will grow from
$12 billion in 2005 to $90 billion by 2015".
The rapidly growing Indian market is growing
towards maturity with increasing participation
from large local and international players,
rising investor interest and a market friendly
approach. Indian real estate companies are
making multi-million dollar investments
in development of both retail and commercial
space.
The government’s
decisions to allow 100% foreign direct investment
(FDI) and the entry of venture funds in
real estate are expected to add to the growth
momentum created by affordable financing
options and rising disposable incomes. Further,
there are indications that obstacles such
as the absence of investment instruments
in real estate are likely to be removed.
Already, real estate mutual funds have been
allowed to be floated in a move industry
observers believe will pave the way for
the setting-up of Real Estate Investment
Trust-like structures. At the same time,
price of real estate in India is at par
with developed countries.
This panel
aims to discuss the opportunities and challenges
facing this sector, and will discuss the
long term potential for the sector.
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