NAUSHAD FORBES was the face of Indian business back in 2016, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi demonetised 86 per cent of the currency in circulation. Forbes, then president of the Confederation of Indian Industry and co-chairman of one of India's biggest engineering firms, Forbes Marshall, was forced to do a tightrope walk in handling India Inc's response to the dramatic move.
Interestingly, it also sowed the seeds of an idea for a book, on his apprehensions over India's future. The Covid-19 lockdown gave him time to put his thoughts into the book The Struggle and the Promise (Harper Business). But do not expect to find a de rigueur business success story peppered with anecdotes of interactions with the high and mighty. Forbes's focus is firmly on laying out a blueprint that will help India live up to its promise.
Even while raking in the billions, this industrialist has always had an academic bent of mind. The same academic inclination prompted him to present an articulate vision for "restoring India's potential". Excerpts from an exclusive interview:
Q/ What made you put your thoughts out there?
I could both sense [India’s] potential, and what we needed to do to tap it. [And,] from 2017, I have felt that we were not in a better shape than the previous year—this was from an economic perspective as well as from a wider cultural perspective. These were things we needed to address.
Q/ What are the worry points?
Since 2017, we started seeing greater trade protectionism and a move away from free trade which had characterised India from 1991 onward. From 1991 to 2017, India was increasingly open. But [during] 2017 to 2021, we started to turn somewhat inward.
この記事は THE WEEK India の July 03, 2022 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は THE WEEK India の July 03, 2022 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
What Will It Take To Clean Up Delhi Air?
IT IS ASKED, year after year, why Delhi’s air remains unbreathable despite several interventions to reduce pollution.
Trump and the crisis of liberalism
Although Donald Trump's election to a non-consecutive second term to the US presidency is not unprecedented—Grover Cleveland had done it in 1893—it is nevertheless a watershed moment.
Men eye the woman's purse
A couple of months ago, I chanced upon a young 20-something man at my gym walking out with a women’s sling bag.
When trees hold hands
A filmmaker explores the human-nature connect through the living root bridges
Ms Gee & Gen Z
The vibrant Anuja Chauhan and her daughter Nayantara on the generational gap in romance writing
Vikram Seth-a suitable man
Our golden boy of literature was the star attraction at the recent Shillong Literary Festival in mysterious Meghalaya.
Superman bites the dust
When my granddaughter Kim was about three, I often took her to play in a nearby park.
OLD MAN AND THE SEA
Meet G. Govinda Menon, the 102-year-old engineer who had a key role in surveying the Vizhinjam coast in the 1940s, assessing its potential for an international port
Managing volatility: smarter equity choices in uncertain markets
THE INDIAN STOCK MARKET has delivered a strong 11 per cent CAGR over the past decade, with positive returns for eight straight years.
Investing in actively managed low-volatility portfolios keeps risks at bay
AFTER A ROARING bull market over the past year, equity markets in the recent months have gone into a correction mode as FIIs go on a selling spree. Volatility has risen and investment returns are hurt.
