Youth Incorporated Magazine

The theme for this year was “Steering India’s Economy in the Midst of  Global Uncertainty: Reinventing Business for a New Era”

Sydenham Institute of Management Studies Research and Entrepreneurship Education (SIMSREE) held its flagship corporate event SIM’ergence’23 at World Trade Center, Cuff Parade, Mumbai on March 14, 2023. This year’s theme was – Steering India’s Economy in the Midst of Global Uncertainty: Reinventing Business for a New Era. 

SIMSREE’s Corporate Relations committee organizes the business event every year with its primary aim to bring an industry-academia interface where the industry stalwarts across domains get together and discuss matters concerning the latest, most important business trends. This in turn shapes the mindset and broadens the horizon of the future of corporate India. 

This year’s theme intended to create a discourse among the panelists to understand and reflect on how the looming global recession and difficult business environment have created a  host of challenges and opportunities for the world’s fifth largest economy i.e., India. and what navigating measures can be taken by companies to stay relevant in the market by looking at the current global scenario, the theme’s relevance increased exponentially. 

The one-day event began with a welcome address by the Director, Dr. Shriniwas Dhure, and a prelude from Dr. Sangeeta Pandit, Head of the Department (Finance). 

The event itself comprised two panel discussions. 

The first panel with the theme – Way through Current Economic Uncertainty: Business  Reinvention and Survival – consisted of a total of six esteemed guests with a combined experience of over 150 years. The moderator, Mr. Ashutosh Mishra (Head of Forex and  Commodity Hedging Treasury, JSW Steel), set the tone of the discussion by mentioning the  past upheavals in history and questioning the pros and cons of economic uncertainty in India.  

The pointers initially revolved around the current situation of micro and macroeconomic  indicators such as the rising interest rate, rising inflation, sub-optimal GDP growth rate,  unfulfilled demand of consumers and the higher cost of capital. The other panelists which  included experts such as Mr. Arun Kumar Singh (Founding CEO, IndiaOne Air), Mr. Arvind  Mathur (CEO, Raymond UCO Denim), Mr. Avinash Gupta (MD & CEO, Dun &Bradstreet), Mr.  Mangesh Vaitla (Co-Founder, C2L BIZ) and Mr. Narayan Barasia (CFO, SBFCFinance) were on  the consensus that uncertainty has been the only constant and the black swan events have been part and parcel of humanity path to innovation and development. 

Arun sir gave a unique perspective to the discussion and mentioned that the world has been running on fiat currency for some time now and the rising debt burden can turn into a vicious  cycle if it is not addressed in time. Avinash sir fittingly quoted – ‘The Arbitrage for everybody  versus India is wide and we need to leverage that smartly’ and this presents an excellent  opportunity for India as a nation to do what is necessary in these disruptive times. He also  touched upon the concerns of lack of capital and infrastructure to make this happen and how  exports need to grow to curb trade imbalance. Arvind sir stressed the point to make the  country’s manufacturing sector robust to grow at a faster pace and gain a competitive advantage. Mangesh Sir talked about the ease of doing business in India and

the need to leverage the talent pool for intellectual property creation. At last, Narayan sir emphasized the cost efficiency which needs to be achieved in order to optimize the supply chain and how the PLI scheme and the FDI influx in India are the major positives right now. 

The second panel with its theme – India Navigating the Economic Storm – was moderated by Mr. Rupesh H. Acharya (Chief of Finance, BS & Legal, NPCI Group) and had Mr.  Anurag Mishra (Regional Head Global Trade Community and Supply Chain Finance, 

International Finance Corporation – World Bank Group), Mr. Dattatraya Kale (Ex-Chief General  Manager, Reserve Bank of India), Mr. Mehernosh Tata (Executive Director and CEO- mSME  Business, ECL Finance), and Mr. Siddhartha Sanyal (Chief Economist & Head of Research,  Bandhan Bank) as his fellow co-panelists with a consolidated experience of more than 125  years. Mehernosh sir restated the fact that uncertainty is here to stay and we need to be  adaptable and agile in this changing world. According to him, the MSMEs are the growth  engine for any economy and need to be constantly supported. Also, customer sentiments are 

pretty positive and demand will grow in time. Anurag Sir opined that the pace of change in  the modern world has increased drastically and we need to be up on our toes each time. According to him, world is looking at India as a destination for investment and the  government has done the right thing by giving the required impetus to infrastructure growth. 

Siddhartha sir pointed out that volatility-like change has become the norm and explained how  rising inflation and changing forecasts can act as a boon and a bane for the country. He also emphasized the importance of adaptability in today’s competitive scenario and urged the students to stay away from a rent-seeking approach. Dattatraya sir highlighted the point of boosting our manufacturing capabilities to sustain and enhance growth. With India’s GDP mostly driven by the unorganized sector, he insisted on the formalization of the economy for enhanced productivity. A social safety net is also a must for people to stay sustainable. 

The Corporate Relations team of SIMSREE would like to thank all the dignitaries for taking out  time out of their busy schedules and gracing the batch with their wise words. The Corporate  Relations team looks forward to hosting the event the next year with even more enthusiasm  following its tradition of student-driven culture.