HUNDREDS of international policy-makers and industry leaders have converged on Mumbai, hoping fast-growing India can provide a rare chink of light amid the faltering global economy.
More than 800 participants from 40 countries are due to take part from yesterday (November 13) in the annual two-day India Economic Summit which is making its debut in Mumbai having previously been held in the capital New Delhi.
Delegates will focus on how to combine economic growth with essential social development.
Sushant Rao, a senior director with organisers the World Economic Forum, said there were "high expectations" of India given the gloom enveloping debt-laden Europe in particular.
"India is not isolated from the crises that are happening in Europe," Rao warned a news conference in Mumbai, the country`s financial hub, last week. "There`s a global economic contraction."
But as solutions are sought, he said there was a need to look at "exactly what`s the role of a country like India, which is assumed to be one of the next superpowers… (to) facilitate leadership for these global challenges".
Prithviraj Chavan, the chief minister of Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is the capital, also said the event`s timing was "opportune, just after the G20 Cannes summit, where India has been called upon to play a major role".
India emerged relatively unscathed from the last global economic downturn in 2008, largely because most of its demand for goods and services was met domestically.
The tightly regulated banking and financial sectors were also less exposed to overseas troubles.
Chavan, from the ruling Congress party, said New Delhi was confident that India could withstand further shocks and instead "get the due attention of the investing community of global business leaders".
In Maharashtra alone, agreements will be signed with 32 major companies by year-end for projects worth at least $100 million (£62 mn), the chief minister said.
But not everyone is banking on India.
Business leaders have said wider investor confidence about the opportunities in the South Asian giant has been hit, largely due to inflation, which is hovering near 10 per cent.
Recent weak data has also undercut hopes that emerging markets such as India can power global growth as Europe and the United States struggle.
