Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani has said that India is advantageously positioned away from frozen slippery slopes and may be the primary bright spot among several large economies.
In his remarks at the WEF event in Davos, Adani said: “Our multi-vector, non-partisan approach has ensured that we are well-respected and have become one of the leading voices batting for the emerging economies. The growing prominence was very visible during the forum, with widespread participation by Indian companies and government officials.”
“The World Economic Forum has a challenge. Be it the ease of availability of information, live streaming making it more comfortable to watch and multitask, climate change leading to less snow on the slopes, nervous travellers, and a war that has no end in sight – all of this is leading to a loss in momentum for what used to be the premier thought leadership event in the world. Perhaps for the first time ever, the only G7 leader present was the German Chancellor,” he said.
“The surest sign I noticed was the easy availability of seating in any restaurant that we walked into. We were welcomed with open arms as against being told that we should reserve a year ahead (Yes – this is what we were told at pre-Covid Davos!). That being said, there can be no denying the fact that Davos is still a huge draw and fast morphing into a premier business networking conference,” Adani said.
“Going into WEF’ 23, I was surprised to read about massive layoffs by the ‘infallible’ tech industry and economists’ warnings about the global recession in the third quarter of 2023. These days, the quality of the economists’ predictions is as good as my skiing skills. Both are on slippery slopes.
“Besides the ongoing geo-economic fragmentation and weaponisation of economic policies, we are witnessing the Great Fracture (a term coined by the UN Secretary General) – the decoupling of China and the US, which has massive knock-on global consequences and will severely dilute economic globalisation,” Adani added.
All this means that conventional trade patterns will transform as the parts of the western world attempt to reduce their reliance on both Russia and China. Needless to say, this becomes an opportunity for India and other ASEAN countries to benefit from the diversification of supply chain risks that can be expected, Adani said.
