46TH ANNUAL MEETING

Asian Development Bank conducted its 46th Annual Meeting from 2nd to 5th May 2013 at India Expo Centre and Mart, Greater Noida.

Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in association with Ministry of Finance, Government Of India, organized a seminar on “Innovation for Inclusion” on 2nd May 2013 and “Next Wave Of Inclusive Growth” on 3rd May 2013. Advisor (R&D), Prof. TPN Singh, Administrator – Academics, Ashwani Kumar, HOD-ME, Prof. D. V. Bhise, Mr. T. Bothichander, Mr. Akhilesh Dwivedi, Ms. Mahamaya Mohanti, Ms. Sarika Agarwal, Mr. Raj Ranjan attended the seminar. The seminar was a panel discussion of eminent and distinguished members from Asian countries and entrepreneurs of repute.

The panel members for the seminar on “Innovation for Inclusion” were:-

1. Ms. Naina Lal Kidwai, President, FICCI and Country Head, HSBC India and Director Asia Pacific. Moderator of the panel discussion.

2. Dr. K.Thomas Abraham, CEO, Sata Comm Health, Singapore.

3. Mr. Nikhil Jaisinghani, Founder, Mera Gao Power(MGP), India.

4. Ms. Neha Juneja, CEO and co-founder Greenway Grameen Infra (GGI), India.

4. Mr. Samir Mathur, Founder, FIA Technologies.

5. Mr. Abhishek Sinha, Co-Founder, EKO India Financial Services.

6. Mr. Jebamalai Vinanchiarachi, Former Principal Advisor to the Director General, UNIDO.

7. Ms. Rabiya Yasmin, Director, CFPR-TUP (Challenging the frontiers of Poverty Reduction-Targeting the ultra – poor) program in BRAC, Bangladesh.

Ms. Naina Lal Kidwai inaugurated the seminar and welcomed the members from Singapore, Bangladesh and the entrepreneurs for their valuable presence. Discussions on Innovation in Developed markets, Developing markets, Private sector and their impact on society were discussed in detail. Developed markets success was their competitive environment and substantial investment in R&D and attributing a critical role to Technology. For developing markets, the focus was on Inclusion.

During the seminar on “Next Wave Of Inclusive Growth” on May 3rd, 2013, Finance Minister, Mr. P. Chidambaram presided over as the Chief Guest. The panel Members included:

During the opening session of the seminar, overview of steps being taken to orchestrate a rebound in the Indian economy was discussed. The panel discussion also focused on accelerating growth to reach 9% GDP.

The session on “Infrastructure – A Trillion-$ opportunity” emphasized on deficiency of India’s infrastructure which in turn offers a trillion- dollar investment opportunity. The government’s initiatives to improve the pace of implementation of infrastructure projects and steps being taken to remove supply bottlenecks were discussed.

Mr. Vikram Chandra CEO, NDTV steered the seminar during the first half.

During the later part of the day Mr. Shekhar Gupta , Editor -in- Chief, Indian Express presented an introduction to the seminar on “Emerging Opportunities Across India”. The panel members were

This session focused on reforms in the states of India and Governance issues. The Panel members discussed transformational initiatives taken by each state to make it a more responsive and investment – friendly destination.

At the end of the panel discussion Mr. Shekhar Gupta concluded the remarks .