Davos 2024: How India Dominated The Conversations At World Economic Forum

The World Economic Forum at Davos this year, much like last year, was about India's presence, with about a dozen Indian lounges dominating the main Promenade street. A notable one was the 'We Lead' Lounge, set up to showcase women's leadership. Apart from this, several MoUs signed between Indian states and global as well as native companies showed that the forum was not all talk and sentiment. Information technology behemoths also expressed interest in furthering investments in the country.

WEF President Børge Brende, yet again, attended the CII evening. The Swiss-Indian Innovation event was larger than ever before and the 'improve the world' activities of Indian companies, in collaboration with WEF, picked up pace this year (HCL Group, for example, upped the aquapreneurs commitment—a programme where freshwater conservation policies are encouraged). And if Indian food was sought after at every event I attended, Indian brands Indri and Sette made it to the list of delectable alcohols being served at certain parties.

But beyond the most visible pieces were conversations, markers and more, which made India's presence felt at this year's WEF.

We all know that the headline presence of Apple and Google in India made waves. We know that companies like HP, Dell, Lenovo and others are committing to making their products locally in India as part of the PLI scheme. Signings of further FTAs are on the anvil, according to one of the ambassadors at an event that NDTV Profit attended.

What stood out were the on-record comments made by some of the biggest global voices on the NDTV network about why the India promise looks real.

Bob Moritz, global chairman of PwC, said India has got a fairytale story going on right now, with the world recognising the upside potential of India. IBM Corp. Vice Chairman Gary Cohn unequivocally stated that India has been crucial for the tech major's success and that the country will play an important part in expansion in the artificial intelligence and consulting spaces as well for the company. Florence Verzelen of Dassault lauded the Indian work ethic. She asserted that her conversations with clients suggest that companies that have complex supply chains might want to invest in India in order to de-risk, as the market is a safer place to do business and export and "an amazing place to put supply chains and manufacturing plants."

In an exclusive interaction, ABB Chairman Peter Voser spoke about how reforms and changes made by the government will only move ahead and can't be reversed. Doing business in India today is very different from the past. India will not want to compete with China on low-quality manufacturing but on the higher end of the scale, using the latest technological prowess and the knowledge economy, he said.

On the tech front, HCLTech Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer C Vijayakumar and Tech Mahindra MD and CEO Mohit Joshi spoke of how Indian companies are being sought to help global companies navigate the AI challenge. As Gautam Adani wrote in his LinkedIn piece, "The general consensus is that while India is on its way to approaching the $30 trillion GDP target by 2050, it has the potential for even higher growth, given its young workforce."

On the business front, Maharashtra inked MoUs worth over Rs 3.5 lakh crore at the WEF. Last year, the state signed MoUs worth Rs 1.4 lakh crore and as per official statements to the media, there was an 80% conversion rate. Therefore, while MoUs are not actual contracts, the conversion rate means that the investments could be strong. The Adani Group's Rs 50,000 crore commitment to set up data centres, as well as Lloyds Metal and Energy Ltd.'s commitment of over Rs 30,000 crore for metals and mining, stood out in the Indian company space.

From a global standpoint, Hyundai committed to investing over Rs 7,000 crore in Maharashtra. Belgium-based brewing company AB InBev will set up a unit in the state with an investment of Rs 600 crore.

Similarly, Uttar Pradesh clocked in MoUs with different companies, as did Karnataka with MoUs worth Rs 22,000 crore with seven companies. Telangana, too, had commitments of over Rs 35,000 crore. Mahindra Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Anish Shah told NDTV Profit about conversations with global companies wanting to deepen their India commitment.

Beyond business alone, there were soft touches as well. Union Minister Smriti Irani on Wednesday announced the creation of the B20 Global Institute, in line with India's commitment during the G20 summit in New Delhi last year. Led by businesses, the B20 Global Institute aims to strengthen global value chains, leverage digital innovations and AI for societal benefit, promote ESG principles, and support sustainability and energy transition.

For the first time, India put up a 'We Lead' lounge at Davos with the vision of promoting global commitment towards building women's leadership. Led by the Ministry of Women and Child Development in partnership with CII and supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the lounge was a dedicated space designed to champion the message of global prosperity powered by women, emphasising India's pivotal role in this narrative.

Conversations with young girls serving tea at kiosks to cab drivers transporting delegates during the WEF were dominated by India, with some exhibiting deep knowledge of the country's growth as well as some eye-popping anecdotes that they are first-hand witnesses to. If, at the start of the WEF, we were in awe of India's imposing presence in spirit, by the end, we were confident of the Indian arrival at a large global event in letter as well.