In a decade, we went from being at the margins to centre of world affairs: R.N. Ravi

Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi highlights India's transformation into a global economic powerhouse at Bharathidasan Institute of Management.

The India that exists today is not what it was a decade ago, Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi said on Friday.

The country had become a preferred destination for investments, as corporate leaders had started moving out of China, he said, adding that it was important to create the right environment.

Speaking at the 32nd graduation day of Bharathidasan Institute of Management (BIM) at the Music Academy, Mr. Ravi said that a new, self-confident, and resolute India was emerging. “A decade ago, we were among the fragile five economies of the world, at the margins of world affairs; but today, we are among the top five economies of the world and at the centre of world affairs. A decade ago, India was home to the largest number of the poor, sick, and illiterate. Today, we are digitally empowered citizens. Today, we have citizenry with financial inclusion with over 50 crore bank accounts. Our digital public infrastructure is a logistic marvel of the world,” he said.

“The world order created in the aftermath of the Second World War was based on material wealth and military power. It was created to ensure a safer world and peaceful world, where there wouldn’t be any war. It has failed. In the last eight decades, the existing world order has created a more inequitable, exclusive, and unsustainable world. We have a large number of humans suffering in poverty. The climate crisis is largely a product of this world order, and the world is looking at India with the expectation that it would find a solution, show the way forward. We are doing it,” he said.

Venu Srinivasan, chairman emeritus, TVS Motor Company, said that ‘learnability’ was more important than teaching. “The second issue is quality. India is not known for quality, except in islands. You have information tech — TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCL, and many others. Then you have an island called pharmaceuticals, defence tech and automobiles. But when you go abroad, originally, Britain represented quality. Then, the Germans learned quality and Germany stood for quality. After the war came Japan, Taiwan, Korea, and now China. If you go to the store, how many Indian products you see — from television sets, washing machines, refrigerators. Fortunately, between Bajaj and TVS, all over Africa and South America, you will see the majority of two-wheelers and three-wheelers are from India,” he said, adding that there is a long way to go before Indian brands could be associated with quality.

He said that it was important to demand learning opportunities, and it was in institutions such as BIM that there were the nurseries that created the plants that grew into trees.

Ravi Appasamy, chairman, Board of Governors, BIM, said, “This year is also very special to BIM. As we completed the 40th anniversary of BIM’s founding, we chose new challenges while scripting our journey for the next 40.”