By 2047, Indians will be global wealth creators: Naidu

HYDERABAD:  Speaking about his ‘vision’ for 2047, former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh and Telugu Desam Party supremo N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday said that Indians will be wealth creators and employment providers globally 25 years from now. Naidu, who was chief guest at the 20th anniversary valedictory function of the Indian School of Business (ISB) said “Indians will dominate in public governance and corporate governance in the global economy and ISB is going to play a major role in this.”

Explaining how he convinced the founders of ISB to pick Hyderabad when they were considering Chennai, Mumbai and Bengaluru, Naidu recalled how he didn’t let a rejection letter from the ISB Board faze him. “I invited them to have a cup of coffee. I knew if they came to Hyderabad, they cannot say no to me,” said Naidu.

After he garlanded each of the board members and treated them to breakfast, he made a PowerPoint presentation titled, ‘Hyderabad the future knowledge hub of the world’. “This convinced the naysayers and they agreed to the proposal to set up ISB over 260 acres of land in Gachibowli,” recalled the former CM.

Addressing the gathering at ISB, Naidu also narrated the Microsoft story. “Indians are inherently strong in mathematics and the British left English to us. These two are our strengths which make us a deadly combination for Information Technology. This is what I conveyed to Bill Gates to convince him to set up a Microsoft campus in Hyderabad.”

He also elaborated on the development of infrastructure and knowledge economy in Hyderabad over the past 25 years, in different fields of IT, biotechnology, Genome Valley and pharma.  He said that even at the recent G-20 preparatory meeting, he stressed the need to encourage technology. He emphasised that, “India is going to become number one in the global economy by 100 years of Independence. Things are happening across the globe only because of the Indians, particularly the youth.”

He stated that of the total number of Indians who migrated to various countries for either employment or as entrepreneurs, 33 per cent were from the Telugu states and have the highest per capita income.Naidu concluded that wealth creation is inevitable and the business people and youngsters should help bridge inequalities. “You have to work on this. Otherwise the wealth will be in the hands of a few people which is not good for society.” Naidu urged ISB graduates not to be employees but turn “employers and provide jobs to others”.

The founder dean of the ISB, Dr Pramanth Raj Sinha, who played an important part in building the school’s relationship with Naidu, interacted with him during the event. He recounted the many generosities Naidu showered on the B-school in its initial years. Madan Pillutla, Dean, ISB and Board members Srini Raju, G V Prasad as well as former Dean Ajit Rangnekar were present on the occasion.