India Needs to Liberalize Further to Combat Poverty: Pitroda
Thursday, May 10, 2012
The U.S.-India Business Council, in partnership with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, held the first annual U.S. India Business Summit-West, titled “Building Bridges, Fostering Innovation,” at the Rosewood Sand Hill Hotel here April 26 and 27 (Read: India-US N-Deal ’One of My Proudest Moments’: Condi Rice).
Introduced by Nikesh Arora, chief business officer for Google, Sam Pitroda, chairman of the National Innovation Council and advisor to the prime minister, admitted in his keynote address April 26 that petroleum prices and gold prices in many ways dictate what happens in India.
“It’s unfortunate, but these two commodities can really change our economic agenda. We have some compulsions, but I can assure you that the growth in India will continue,” he said. “I bet it will continue to grow at eight to ten percent for the next 20 years. We may have a little glitch here or there, but many of us are very bullish on India.”