India Inc:
Deepender Hooda, a member of Parliament from Haryana and chair of the delegation, said: “The younger generation in India is very much on the move and has faith in their own future.”
Jayant Chaudhary, MP from Uttar Pradesh and co-chair of the delegation, added: “There is incredible growth potential and whole world of opportunities exist in India today. Anyone with a good idea can come and start a revolution. Instead of being in a market where you will be one of many, you can come to India and create your own market.
“There a lot of room in the social space for service industries with the PPP (public-private partnership) model. It is boom time, not necessarily in the big cities of Mumbai and Delhi but even the smaller towns and rural areas. There is a clear change in mindset. It is the entrepreneurs who are today’s rockstars because there is a growing respect for new ideas in India.”
The Next Gen members in the audience raised concerns about the lack of a common platform that could facilitate non-resident Indian access to the Indian market and also raised concerns about bureaucratic hurdles faced by new entrepreneurs.
Yashodhara Raje Scindia, MP from Madhya Pradesh, felt organisations like the UK India Business Council and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry could “marry” their interests to further enhance such a platform.
She added: “There is a refreshing change among the younger generation of MPs in India. They all realise there is a small window of opportunity in a fast-moving country and they want to be a part of its success story. Every chief minister (CM) has learnt from the [Gujarat CM] Narendra Modi model and knows that they have to move at the speed of lightning to get things done.
“Unfortunately, there is still a big bureaucracy behind every CM but give it another year or so and there won’t be any state left behind in attracting NRIs to be a part of their development story. If Bihar can change, any state can change.”
