Top CEOs buoyant about Govt. reforms, investing in India
Leaders from Walmart, Philips Home Healthcare, Tata Chemicals on demonetisation, GST, AI and more
“What the world needs today are leaders who can stimulate demand, and not cutting-cost,” said Sam Balsara, Chairman Madison World while speaking at the second Success and Leadership Summit for Women held in India.
Balsara commented on the state of the advertising and marketing industry as part of a panel on ‘How Top CEOs are Preparing their Organisations and Leadership to Win in India.’ He was of the opinion that in the '70s, '80s, and '90s, the industry did a good job of focussing on marketing. “Somehow in the later decades there has been excessive focus on bottomline and cost-cutting,” he added.
As a keen observer of the industry at large, Balsara said, “Our growth rates are under pressure. Traditional media where we are used to have growth rates of 10-15 per cent or higher is down to just 4 per cent and the overall ad market grew at 7 per cent on the back of digital.” He noted that most of the developments in the world today are focussed on efficiencies and not effectiveness, while it should actually be the other way round.
Commenting on government initiatives, Krish Iyer, President and CEO, Walmart India, said that demonetisation helped tremendously in terms of formalisation of the economy, and while GST had some teething troubles,slowly things are settling down - one has to look at it from a 3-5 years perspective.” He appreciated the clear vision, purpose and strategy that this government has shown and said that these qualities of the government will bring India sustained growth. “All these developments indicate that there is room for optimism and that’s the reason companies like ours are making good investments at this point in time and will continue to make investments for the next 10-20 years,” he added.
Leaders of today are also preparing to be future-ready and develop strengths that can shape the industry. On this Richa Singh, CEO-Philips Home Healthcare, noted that the jobs of the future will be centered around automation, data sciences, Artificial Intelligence, and technology.
Making it big in India and winning comes with its set of challenges, especially amplified by the government. Richa Arora, Chief Operating Officer, Consumer Products Business, Tata Chemicals, said that while there are some challenges, this government has been trying to impact all strata of society. “Government officials have been very open to listening to feedback. The government does have some legacy issues like that a 50-year-old business, need to acknowledge those challenges and also recognise that they have a huge task ahead of them,” she said.
Balsara commented on the state of the advertising and marketing industry as part of a panel on ‘How Top CEOs are Preparing their Organisations and Leadership to Win in India.’ He was of the opinion that in the '70s, '80s, and '90s, the industry did a good job of focussing on marketing. “Somehow in the later decades there has been excessive focus on bottomline and cost-cutting,” he added.
As a keen observer of the industry at large, Balsara said, “Our growth rates are under pressure. Traditional media where we are used to have growth rates of 10-15 per cent or higher is down to just 4 per cent and the overall ad market grew at 7 per cent on the back of digital.” He noted that most of the developments in the world today are focussed on efficiencies and not effectiveness, while it should actually be the other way round.
Commenting on government initiatives, Krish Iyer, President and CEO, Walmart India, said that demonetisation helped tremendously in terms of formalisation of the economy, and while GST had some teething troubles,slowly things are settling down - one has to look at it from a 3-5 years perspective.” He appreciated the clear vision, purpose and strategy that this government has shown and said that these qualities of the government will bring India sustained growth. “All these developments indicate that there is room for optimism and that’s the reason companies like ours are making good investments at this point in time and will continue to make investments for the next 10-20 years,” he added.
Leaders of today are also preparing to be future-ready and develop strengths that can shape the industry. On this Richa Singh, CEO-Philips Home Healthcare, noted that the jobs of the future will be centered around automation, data sciences, Artificial Intelligence, and technology.
Making it big in India and winning comes with its set of challenges, especially amplified by the government. Richa Arora, Chief Operating Officer, Consumer Products Business, Tata Chemicals, said that while there are some challenges, this government has been trying to impact all strata of society. “Government officials have been very open to listening to feedback. The government does have some legacy issues like that a 50-year-old business, need to acknowledge those challenges and also recognise that they have a huge task ahead of them,” she said.
