India Economic Summit

Welcome to our live coverage of the India Economic Summit 2017. We'll be here for the next three days, bringing you snippets from our live-streamed sessions, Agenda blogs, social media channels and other digital highlights.

For full details on the various ways to follow the meeting, including embedding the sessions on your own blog or website, take a look at this detailed guide.

The theme of the meeting is Creating Indian Narratives on Global Challenges, with sessions focusing on skills, education, jobs, gender parity, economic and social inclusion - among other key topics.

The first session, My India @2022, kicks off at 9.00am GMT.

Before then, here's a closer look at some of the themes that are likely to dominate discussions here in New Delhi.

8 things you need to know about India's economy

The BRICS initiative is 10 years old and has silenced many critics who thought its members were too economically, politically and geographically diverse to work together. But as cracks begin to show, how should BRICS move forward?

India’s demographic advantage, with two-thirds of its 1.3 billion people under 35 years old, represents a huge opportunity for development.

How can India create a new space for these young people to innovate?

The panel for this session features Anu Acharya, founder and CEO of mapmygenome.in, Hari S. Bhartia, founder and co-chairman of Jubilant Bharthia Group and Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation of India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that innovation represents a key priority for the nation. What needs to happen now to turn this ambition into a reality? This panel will be discussing the role of education, employability and entrepreneurship in India.

Leveraging technology is key to the future economy in India, but so is female participation in higher education, and reaching the rural population who haven't been taught the soft skills necessary for employment.

Among the solutions are involving business in skilling youth and getting young people to develop critical thinking beyond what they have been taught. We need to give them the tools to do this at a grass roots level, says Jayant Sinha.

All societies, not just India, are facing the challenge of a gap between what jobs people want and the jobs that will actually be available. India's youth need to be equipped with an understanding of what the future economic landscape will look like.

Recent study says jobs are down in India. Why are government reforms not translating into more jobs? Part of the answer lies in improving the business ecosystem, explains Anu Acharya.

There are lots of areas where we can create jobs within existing industries, says Smriti Zubin Irani. It’s about tapping the untapped potential.

Hari S. Bhartia says jobs will come from micro enterprises that will grow. But those small companies have to contend with the challenges of raising capital, dealing with regulations, and local constraints. There is also a real fear of failure. We must embrace failure as experience, like they do in the US, he says.

Bhartia suggests federal bank could do more to help by lowering interest rates.

What keeps the panellists up at night?

Hari S. Bhartia: Jobs.

Anu Acharya: Can the youth learn to think differently?

Utkarsh Amitabh: Can we figure out what we are good at?

Jayant Sinha: Education.

Smriti Zubin Irani: Connecting the dots - everything from culture through to education through to employment.

Ahead of the Open Forum session, which starts in about 10 minutes, we ran this Twitter poll to try and gauge how optimistic our followers are about the future of India. With one hour left, we've had a whopping 17,000 votes.

You have to be logged in to Twitter to see the results, but right now 80% of participants in the poll say they are optimistic about the future of the South Asian giant, while only 9% say they are not and 11% are unsure.

If India can reap the 'demographic dividend' of a young, talented workforce, it can pull millions out of poverty.

India is South Asia's most competitive economy, according to the latest edition of the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report.

And by the way, what is economic competitiveness, why is it important, how do we measure it and, most importantly, why should you care? Here's a handy guide to explain.

India has among the lowest female labour force participation rates in the world. How can India ensure that women – comprising over 48% of the population – enter, stay and progress in the labour market?

The Punjab region thinks it has the solution. Or part of it, anyway. The northern state is offering free education to the region's girls, in an effort to close the country's gender gap.

Here's a short video on the programme.

That's it for day one of our India meeting, we'll be back nice and early tomorrow for a packed day of sessions. Remember, you can watch many of these live on this page. Here are some of the highlights coming up, with our first session, Creating Indian Narratives, kicking-off at 0400 GMT/0930 IST. See you then!

Welcome back to our live coverage of the India Economic Summit in New Delhi. We've a full schedule of live sessions today, starting with Creating India Narratives, which starts at 0400 GMT/0930 IST.

Here's some media reaction to the start of the India Economic Summit:

Policymakers, India Inc, Bollywood to participate in World Economic Forum event (The Economic Times)

India Economic Summit to reflect India's growing role in addressing global challenges (Business Standard)

Demonetisation, GST much-needed reforms for India: WEF official (Business Standard)

Uniquely Indian problems: Why India is now detached from the world, sitting out the global recovery in growth and jobs (The Times of India)

Govt says it can't provide jobs to all, asks IITians to take lead (Business Standard)

Aviation to be among new job creating industries: Jayant Sinha (Mint)

Urvashi Sahnim founder of SHEF, wins social entrepreneur award (Mint)

Bollywood’s Deepika Padukone joins us for a conversation with renowned neuroscientist and physician Murali Doraiswamy to examine the current stigma surrounding mental health.

What are some of the new ways to tackle mental health issues head-on? One study suggests rap music could help battle depression calling it the “perfect form for music therapy.”

Ahead of the discussion, Professor Doraiswamy answered some of your questions concerning mental health and depression on our blog platform, Agenda.

Asked about when she knew she was depressed, Padukone says it started with "a feeling of not being completely there".

A large part of the road to recovery is acceptance, says Padukone:

The actress says she feels "lighter" for having shared her story, and set up her foundation to help others do the same.

Professor Doraiswamy says depression and mental disorders are a leading cause of disability in the world. He adds that educating people and speaking openly about mental health issues are crucial to overcoming stigma.

Padukone tells the audience that the narrative around mental health in India needs to change. It's important to treat mental illness in the same way as physical illness:

Businesses also have a role to play, says Professor Doraiswamy, adding that the World Economic Forum has produced a toolkit to help organizations promote better mental health in their workforces.

How does the world’s largest democracy stay on track of its regional and global engagement?

The panel session includes Mastercard’s Ajay S. Banga, Welspun’s Dipali Goenka, Piyush Goyal – Minister of Railways and Coal of India, Smriti Zubin Irani – Minister of Textiles, Information and Broadcasting of India, Malvika Iyer from the United Nations Inter-Agency Network on Youth Development, Dharma Productions’ Karan Johar and Sunil Bharti Mittal from Bharti Enterprises.

The discussion looks into the various ways India has been continuing its narrative as a world player. Take a look at this piece on how well India – which by some estimates is already the most populous country in the world – is prepared for some of the major challenges it faces.

Railways and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal says India's narrative has moved on from "yoga, ayurveda and cricket". The country is increasing being recognised as a place to invest, where the world economy can "grow and flourish".

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has emerged as powerful leader who is driving this new Indian agenda but also the global agenda, says Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman of Bharti Enterprises. India is pushing forward on climate issues and is open to investment.

Malvika Iyer, disability rights advocate and member of the UN's Working Group on Youth and Gender, says she feels lucky to be a young person in India today, with affordable education and digital know-how.

"The end result is a healthier market and better governance," she says.

How can India provide 100 million new jobs by 2022?

Join moderator Galani Una, Editor for Thomson Reuters’ China office and panellists Keiko Honda from MIGA, Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, the Minister of Commerce and Industry of India, Renault’s Sumit Sawhney and ABB’s Sanjeev Sharma for a discussion on the future of manufacturing in South Asia.

The session will kick-off at at 07:30 GMT.

Before then, here’s a bit of background reading on some of the initiatives that aim to transform production and industrial development in India through education. Will super-sized schools like this one, with 40,000 students, help to create enough jobs for India’s burgeoning youth population?

India's workers are optimistic about the Fourth Industrial Revolution, but they need new skills, says Rekha M Menon, Chairman and Senior Managing Director, Accenture in India, in this piece for our blog platform, Agenda.

"A huge swathe of the population runs the risk of being rendered irrelevant and unemployable," she argues.

Read the full piece here:

India’s business leaders must build the workforce of the future, now

A reminder that you can see all the pictures from our meeting in New Delhi over on our Flickr page, which is here.

Join us at 09:30 GMT for a conversation with Minister of Railway and Coal, Piyush Goyal, and Mastercard’s CEO Ajay Banga on India’s transformation to a cashless society and what this rapid digitization means for the country’s 1.4 billion citizens.

Eighty years ago, Mahatma Gandhi, writing of the India he envisioned and dedicated his life to building, mused that an ideal village would be one that enjoyed ‘perfect sanitation.’

How close is India to realising Gandhi's vision? Here's a piece by Anthony Lake, Executive Director of UNICEF, on the progress being made in India's war on poor sanitation.

Pollution and the environment are big issues in India right now. With about two thirds of its power still produced from coal, the country's leaders - despite early reluctance to sign up to the Paris Agreement - are keen to play a prominent role in addressing climate change.

One way to do this would be to reduce the number of petrol and diesel vehicles on the road. By 2030, India wants all new cars and trucks to be electric. Here's more:

India is in the midst of a start-up boom. With over 4,000 new companies, the country is now the third largest start-up hotspot in the world.

While India is among the fastest-growing start-up nations in the world, scalability and profitability remain the biggest missing pieces of the Indian start-up puzzle. How can India create mini-multinationals?

The panel for this conversation on India’s start-up economy features The Wharton School’s Kartik Hosanagar, Quartz India’s Diksha Madhok, Indian politician K T Rama Rao, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder and CEO of Paytm, and Gaurav Dalmia, Chairman, Dalmia Group Holdings.

The session kicks off with a discussion about how to create a good environment for start-ups.

Diksha Madhok, Editor of Quartz India, asks the panel about the difficulties of scaling up companies in India.

Professor Hosanagar says it can be hard to hire top quality engineers at scale. Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder and CEO, Paytm, agrees there's a need for more "incredible engineers".

Funding is also a common problem. "In India we have bigger cycles where the tap of money is switched on and off," says investor Gaurav Dalmia.

Foreign companies are challenging Indian firms to do better, says Professor Hosanagar. For example, Amazon is forcing Flipkart to up its game.

In terms of population, there is of course only one country that can compete with India's 1.3 billion headcount: China.

The most recent estimates predict that India will outstrip China and become the most populous country on earth by around 2027.

But as this excellent animation shows, the two country's are on a very different trajectory. While China is becoming older and more male, India's population is much younger and much more evenly split along gender lines.

For more on this, take a look at this blog:

India and China's populations are changing in very different ways. Here's why

As new transnational infrastructure and economic projects come up across Asia, will the countries in the region connect and work together, or contest and turn inwards?

Here’s a handy guide to the $900 billion New Silk Road project, which will no doubt feature prominently in this debate.

Economic integration inevitably comes with a degree of loss of sovereignty, agree the panel, and must be accepted as a necessity for growth.

That said, politicians and democracies can’t afford to think of the bigger picture at the expense of the political picture at home.

As the Fourth Industrial Revolution ushers in rapid change, how can India rise as an innovation nation and contribute to the global innovation landscape?

Join Cornell University’s Soumitra Dutta, Blockchain’s Nicolas Cary, KPMG’s Arun Kumar and General Atlantic’s Sandeep A Naik for a discussion on the future of innovation in India, a country which British historian EP Thompson once called “the most important country for the future of our world”.

To get you started, here are a couple of recent articles from Agenda, on recent innovations coming out of India, including solar powered train coaches that could save thousands of litres of diesel, and a Mumbai based company that sells soap, toothpaste and face wash made out of pulverised cow dung.

As new transnational infrastructure and economic projects come up across Asia, will the countries in the region connect and work together, or contest and turn inwards?

One such project is the Chinese-led Belt and Road initiative, a project planned to reopen channels between China, its Asian neighbours, the Middle East and Europe. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling the project a “colonial enterprise”, how will India – and other countries in South Asia – balance national sovereignty with the imperative of economic integration?

Economic integration inevitably comes with a degree of loss of sovereignty, agree the panel, and must be accepted as a necessity for growth.

That said, politicians and democracies can’t afford to think of the bigger picture at the expense of the political picture at home.

Smaller Asian countries see the benefit of getting involved in BRI but are there issues down the road?

Two possible long-term outcomes are that the recipient country acquires something larger than they are prepared to pay for, or the recipient country realises that others benefit more than they do.

There is no need to compete with China, say some members of the panel.

Building Asia's new green cities will change more than skylines - it can unlock social mobility, employment opportunities and skills development, transforming the lives of the hundreds of millions of migrants who will build them.

Our last sessions of the day are under way. In one of them, superstar Bollywood filmmaker Karan Johar is moderating a discussion on the future of culture, business and politics in India.

In anticipation of the debate, our writer Phil Hoad has written this article looking at five films that are breaking the Bollywood mould and showing modern India how it really is.

Karan Johar is interviewing Bollywood actress Alia Bhatt, Hike Messenger CEO Kavin Bharti Mittal, and India's IT minister K T Rama Rao.

They all link India's future success to technology, but acknowledge it comes with challenges - both in getting 1.3 billion people online, and social media's potential to negatively change the way people interact.

Can technology help bring India’s population and government closer together? India’s IT minister K T Rama Rao thinks so.

Multiculturalism, secularism and heterogeneity are deeply embedded in the Indian identity. However, regressive social norms and pervasive discrimination pose a threat to economic progress and social development. Can India transcend its fragmented diversity and become a truly pluralistic society?

Join us for a live session at 12:30 GMT for a discussion featuring Malvika Iyer, from the Working Group on Youth and Gender Equality (United Nations Inter-Agency Network on Youth Development), Dietrich Reety of the Zentrum Moderner Orient, Sadhguru – Founder of the Isha Foundation and Shashi Tharoor, a Member of Parliament.

For more on our India meeting, take a look at our Agenda in Focus.

Artificial intelligence is already making its presence felt in India, says Wharton's Professor Kartik Hosanagar, in this article for our blog, Agenda.

There is, however, a growing unease about the ethical concerns with the technology. Should we let this stand in the way of a wider rollout of AI?

That's it for today - we'll be back again tomorrow for the final day of the India Economic Summit. Our first live sessions, India Economic Outlook and Weaving a Better Future, start at 0330 GMT/0900 IST. See you then!

Welcome to our live coverage of the final day of the India Economic Summit in New Delhi. Our first live sessions begin in about 30 minutes or so, starting with India Economic Outlook and Weaving a Better Future. Remember, you can watch all live streamed sessions on this page throughout the day, right through to The New India at 1030 GMT/1600 IST.

The first interactive panel of the day focuses on India’s textile production, which contributes to 4% of GDP and 15% of exports.

As one of the largest sources of employment in the country, how can Indian textiles remain a force and continue to grow by unlocking global opportunities?

The panel – Industree/Mother Earth’s Neelam Chhiber, India’s textile, information and broadcasting minister Smriti Irani, Welspun India CEO Dipali Goenka and Fabindia's William Bissell – discuss ways for India to access global markets and supply chains while re-skilling its workforce and protecting cultural traditions.

Why is the textiles industry so important to India's future, asks moderator Daniel Moss, Bloomberg's Global Economics Writer. Why not tech or services?

The textile industry embraces services and technology, adds Smriti Irani, Minister of Textiles.

Neelam Chhiber, who is working on market solutions to bridge the urban-rural divide, says India needs to build "ecosystems" to support entrepreneurs and artisans.

The textile industry depends on farmers. "60-70% of our product is cotton," says Welspun CEO Dipali Goenka. "It's where our global supply chain starts."

So how can India support its farmers? One suggestion is technology such as apps that help with planting crops.

A new generation of Indian directors are upending Bollywood norms by making movies that explore and satirize India's social and political reality. Here are five of the best.

With a surge of global populist rhetoric, the long-standing hold of the "established elite" is being replaced by acceptance of the "outsider". In the face of eroding trust in institutions and shifting centers of power, what are the consequences for business and society?

The panel, which includes Ashutosh Varshney, Sol Goldman Professor of International Studies and Director at Brown University and politicians Swapan Dasgupta, Yogendra Yadav and Kamal Nath, takes a closer look at what this reshuffle means for Indian business and society.

How does populism apply to Indian politics, asks Barkha Dutt, Editor-in-Chief of The Mojo.

Swapan Dasgupta MP says in countries around the world, from France to the US, there's growing anger over the perception that power is held by "unelected elites". This perspective is fuelling anti-EU sentiment, for example.

In India there are differences, he says, but also a commonality, that people want to reclaim power.

Yogendra Yadav, politician and founder of socio-political organisation Swaraj Abhiyan, says he doesn't see the populism in Europe and the US reflected in Indian politics.

As politics becomes increasingly polarized, how does India's Congress Party, mostly perceived as centrist, choose a position, asks Dutt.

Politics is changing, argues Kamal Nath MP, adding that the concept of 'left' and 'right' is no longer relevant.

Yadav says that India is experiencing "majoritarianism", where minorities are treated as "de-facto second-rate citizens".

The panel agree with Prof. Varshney that, over the years, India's secular governing elite has misused its powers:

Prof. Varshney adds that democracy is not just about representing popular sentiment:

"Popular wishes can be prejudiced," he says. "And this is where constitutional constraints come in."

The discussion wraps up with a question from the audience on the Rohingya crisis.

Dasgupta says India is unlikely to accommodate large numbers of Rohingya refugees.

But India could help in another way, argues Nath:

How can we counter the effects of the proliferation of misinformation on social media and messaging services?

That’s the question being asked in our upcoming session here in New Delhi, which starts at 06:45 GMT.

India has among the lowest female labour force participation rates in the world, declining further in the last decade. How can Indian companies and policies ensure that women – comprising over 48% of the population – enter, stay and progress in the labour market?

This session looks at the potential solutions that companies and policy-makers can adopt to make sure progress is made.

There's a noticeable lack of women in middle management, says Welspun India CEO Dipali Goenka. But training and mentoring can help change this.

So do women need male colleagues to champion equality in the workplace, asks moderator and Euronews anchor Maithreyi Seetharaman.

Girotra adds that the government could do more to improve security for women who work shifts.

Asked about changes that could help boost women's participation in the labour force, Girotra suggests India needs more women leaders like fellow panelist "Dipali Goenka to run businesses and become role models".

Amitabh Kant, CEO of NITI Aayog, a government body for economic development, argues that change needs to happen long before women enter the workforce:

Kant also adds that Indian mothers should "stop pampering their sons".

Here's a selection of local press coverage after a packed day of sessions at the India Economic Summit.

China is pumping money into countries around India — but there are ways New Delhi can hit back (CNBC)

Competition in telecom coming down, says Sunil Mittal (Press Trust of India)

Railways can generate 1 mn jobs but the system is slow: Piyush Goyal at WEF (Business Standard)

World Economic Forum India Summit: Mastercard open to acquisitions in India, to invest $800 mn (The Financial Express)

Powerful nations talk barriers, India refreshing change: Sunil Mittal (The Economic Times )

Coming up shortly - Yalda Hakim, Anchor for BBC News UK will be speaking one-on-one with yogi, mystic, visionary bestselling author and founder of the Isha Foundation, Sadhguru.

When our fundamental values of openness, collaboration and trust are under threat, how can we empower humanity and look forward to a positive future?

This session kicks-off at 09:00 GMT.

Amazingly, India only welcomed 9 million foreign tourists last year. By comparison, France received over 84 million. So while the domestic tourism industry in India is thriving, the international market clearly has some work to do.

Bain & Company estimate that adding a further 20 million foreign visitors a year could lead to $20 billion in tourism receipts and create 1 million jobs. So how can India realize this potential. Take a look at our new report, Incredible India 2.0 - India’s $20 Billion Tourism Opportunity, launched today here at our summit in New Delhi.

The final session at the India Economic Summit 2017 groups all of our co-chairs together to ruminate over the notion of “The New India”.

What does India need to improve the quality of life of its citizens, and enhance its economic power? Among the responses from the panel are for the country to have a more positive mindset, to call out those that abuse the system, and to get citizens more involved.

But it all boils down to jobs, say others. In particular, the participation of women in the workforce and getting the rural youth into jobs.

Inclusion and inclusive growth are key aspects of future economic success. Education in India needs to be more rounded. "We as a nation need to be more cognisant of how we perceive our fellows."

Panel all agree that trust needs to be rebuilt between citizens and the private and public sectors. Ultimately, only honesty will feed trust into the system.

Climate change, women's equality, skills and economic reforms all featured prominently in our meeting of 650 leaders in New Delhi.

That's it from your live blog team here in New Delhi. If you missed any sessions then watch them here, and you can find all of our India-themed blog content here. The official photos can be found on our Flickr page. See you next year!