The Indian Consul General, H.E. Sanjay Verma, in his opening address on the second day of the Conference predicted that glorious future awaits India and that Indian talent would make a mark all over the world.

‘India has all the ingredients to take its success story to new heights, including world-class innovators who will contribute to ‘making India’s presence felt in the world of ideas,’ he said. ‘In the new global economic architecture, India is poised to take the lead, along with the BRICS countries, which together will create 50% of the global wealth soon.

Describing the current time as a ‘pivotal moment in history’, H.E. Sanjay Verma however cautioned that India should pursue globalisation with safety

nets, because globalisation comes at a price, and therefore measures should be taken to ensure that the poorer sections are not left behind in this success story.

The Consul General hailed India as the most diverse and non-violent country in the world, and said this could serve as a ‘template for the world’ to prove that differences need not destroy a society. He also stressed the need for social inclusiveness and political democracy (secularism).

26th and 27th April 2012

Venue: Dubai Men's College, Academic City, Dubai, UAE

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The Global Economy... Poised for a Paradigm Shift?

Annual International Conference 2012Special Edition

Consul General Sanjay Verma says glorious future awaits India

Dr. Faisal Devji highlights relevance of Gandhian valuesDr. Faisal Devji, a historian from Oxford University, spoke about paradigm shift in modern Indian history and traced the Indian strategy of reversing Western values, as typified by the actions of Mahatma Gandhi and in the writings in Bhagwad Gita.

He said Gandhiji’s journey from Porbunder to South Africa was symbolic of how Indian values would triumph over Western beliefs. He paid tributes to Gandhiji for espousing the values of non-violence and civil disobedience, and he said this taught the world that the concept of freedom entails self-restraint.

Dr. Faisal Devji said Gandhiji took the Western thought and reversed it around to match Indian values. He pointed out that much of Gandhiji’s values and approach to leadership echo in Bhagwad Gita, which offered profound insights into thought leadership more than 200 years ago.

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Subodh Kumar Agrawal hails world-class competencies of Indian CAs

CA. Subodh Kumar Agrawal, Vice President of ICAI, has hailed the world-class competencies of Indian CAs in all financial issues, and endorsed the new nomenclature of chartered accountants as ‘complete business solution providers’.

Speaking on the second day of the conference, Subodh Kumar elaborated on the ICAI’s Vision 2030 initiative, which is aimed at raising the brand profile of the world’s second largest accounting body as well as boosting further the image of Indian CA globally.

Dwelling on the conference theme, Subodh Kumar remarked that there have been contradictory reports on India’s ratings by ratings agencies and questioned the S&P’s recent down-grading of India just five days after the same agency had

given a good rating for Indian bonds.

He described India as a ‘happening’ and ‘resilient’ country that is poised to rise dramatically in the global community, powered by its young population, growing middle class and IT advancement.

Writing off the principal is ideal solution to housing crisis, says Dr. Sanjiv Das

Dr. Sanjiv R. Das, from Santa Clara University, United States, speaking on ‘The Case of Paradigm Shift in Distressed Mortgage Debt’ advocated writing off the principal as the ideal way out of the crisis, thus keeping negative equity out.

Speaking largely about the US market, Dr. Das said the negative impact of foreclosures was that banks were compelled to sell off the property for nearly 50% less value. This is not benefiting anybody. The ideal solution in such circumstances is to do something to keep the person in the house and then try restructuring and modifications.

He presented several mathematical models designed to solve the mortgage crisis and advised the lenders to negotiate rather than allow foreclosures. ‘Optimal debt restructuring works best for both lenders and borrowers,’ he added.

He recommended steps like rate reduction, principal reduction and trial modifications.

Painting a gloomy picture of the US housing market and rattling out depressing statistics, Dr. Das predicted that the market would not recovered until 2015-16.

Ujjwal Chowdhury suggests remedies for a better IndiaProf. Ujjwal K. Chowdhury, dean of Whistling Woods International School of Media & Communication, Mumbai, said India was set to become a major power in new world order, but still several issues needed to be tackled if this rising stature was to affect positively the common man.

He advocated extra importance to equitable distribution of wealth, alternative energy, welfare economy, better corporate governance, globalization without harming local enterprise, and not just increased gross domestic product but higher gross domestic happiness.

He suggested greater importance to be given to alternative and green energies, and lamented that India’s long coastline and sunny weather was not being utilized for developing alternative energy. Nearly 98 per cent of energy came from dams and coal-based sources, he said.

He also pointed out that businesses need to give higher priority to corporate social responsibility.

Prof. Chowdhury said that the government should play the role of a facilitator and move away from bureaucratic practices that are harming true liberalization.

On globalization, he said while this was irrefutable, globalization should not come at the cost of local enterprise or exploitation of resources, dumping of arms and ammunitions and delivery of obsolete technology.

Prof. Chowdhury urged for a combination of knowledge-based and agriculture-based model, if the Indian growth story was to have real relevance to the common man.

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He listed three factors that have fuelled Indian democracy: a robust albeit noisy free press, a robust judiciary which is an instrument of governance with a high degree of sensibility and a political system that is powered by the ballot.

Speaking about Indian economy, Mr. Salve said

the real economic gains for India began only after 1991. Earlier he pointed out, India was fumbling, especially between 1966 and 1975 when the Constitution was turned on its head and states became the vassals of federal India. Between 1966 and 1991 India was borrowing from future, he remarked.

Defending democracy as the ideal form of government for India, Mr. Salve said what has turned the favour in India’s side was he investment in human capital and

Dubai, April 27, 2011: Piyush Goyal, BJP Rajya Sabha MP, has called for balanced and inclusive growth as India braces itself for higher economic gains.

Addressing the 30th Annual International Conference of the Dubai chapter of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) on the topic ‘Transforming India’, Mr. Goyal said the challenge before India was to provide a good life to the people through integrated development of human being. He pointed out that 70 per cent of the people were not benefitting from the economic gains and this needs to be rectified.

For transforming India, he said the requirements include right vision, era of reforms, job creation and development with a human face.

Mr. Goyal listed six areas that need to

Dubai, April 27, 2012: Noted Supreme Court advocate Harish Salve has said that recent political and economic developments were an indicator that ‘India is recalibrating itself’, and despite challenges like corruption, the country was poised for a great future.

Addressing the 30th Annual International Conference of the Dubai Chapter of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) on ‘Democracy and Growth’ Mr. Salve pointed out the India was reaching a new stage of maturity which is exemplified by, among other factors, the balance of power was shifting back to the states.Mr. Salve remarked that India as extremely successful in the experiment of democracy; though problems do exist at the micro level, India was the world’s envy at the macro level.

India is re-calibrating itself, Supreme Court Advocate Harish Salve tells ICAI Dubai Chapter

innovation. Innovation can prosper only in democracy, and for innovation to succeed the innovators have to be rewarded. He criticised the earlier system of equal distribution of wealth.

Mr. Salve remarked that while India was coasting along fine, it is the political economic institutions that have failed the country. He also felt democracy was actually helping control corruption.

Mr. Salve said corruption exists in every country, but the Indian judiciary had excelled itself by giving bold judgements even against politicians, as proved by the jailing of the minister behind the 2G scam.

Referring to the downgrading of India by S&P, Mr. Salve described it as a short-term evaluation, and added that he was optimistic about India’s economic strengths. There are challenges, but the on-going recalibration will take of them, he added.

Piyush Goyal calls for balanced and inclusive growth

be tackled: education with less government involvement; urbanisation that would create new cities; better transportation and highway network; rural empowerment and better agricultural produce; better energy availability and stronger manufacturing sector.

He also called for a greater boost to tourism,

adding that mere 6.27 million tourists annually were not enough for a country of India’s richness and diversity.

Mr Goyal also called for reforms in the field of finance, politics, administration, judiciary and police forces. He also highlighted the need for incentivising honesty.

Mr. Goyal lamented the lack of visionary leaders who put nation before self, and this is slowing down the development of India.

Members who stayed until the end of the conference received a surprise gift of ePad.

The members were happy to receive this worthy gift.

Surprise Gift to Members

Mr. Goyal urged the audience to be part of the Indian transformation story by taking initiatives like adopting a village and giving their personal commitment to the cause. He also revealed his mission to impact 1 million lives in five years.

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HE M.K. Lokesh relaunch the website.

Sanjiv Das addressing the audience.

HE Sanjay Verma and CA. Jaydeep Shah, President, ICAI with other delegates.

Abdul Kader Hussein addressing the gathering.

HE Sanjay Verma, Consul General, lighting the lamp

Members registration.

A view of the audience.

CA. Harish Salve addressing the gathering.

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