Indian Subcontinent Panel

The Rising Force and The Destination For The Future

Globalization is increasingly touching the shores of developing economies. It is taking deep roots and is here to stay. Investors and corporation worldwide are looking at new promising markets to sustain their growth. India with its immense talent and growing infrastructure has proven to be the destination of choice. Some key sectors that are driving the growth of the Indian economy are:

Business Process Outsourcing: BPO is the biggest success story of the country and India has monopolized the IT enabled services and BPO industry with an 80% share in the global market.

Manufacturing: While manufacturing is the lesser known success of the country, India has recorded tremendous growth in as many as 20 manufacturing sub-sectors that have each recorded more than 20% growth in the last year. The auto sector in particular has recorded an astounding growth of 32.7% over the last year.

Finance: With 97% growth in equity markets since March 2003, 300% growth in derivatives markets and low correlation with world markets, India is one of the hottest destinations for global capital.

Retail: One of India's sunrise sectors, Organized Retailing, is poised to transform the face of the $200 billion retail industry as multinational companies are vying to expand the mere 3% share of the organized retail sector.

Come and learn why these forces would continue to vault India into the global center-stage. The India panel will present a perfect opportunity to understand these sectors as we host speakers from each of these sectors.

Krishna Ramanathan
Country Head & Director, Sara Lee Apparel (India) Pvt. Ltd.

Krishna Ramanathan is the Country Head & Director of Sara Lee Apparel (India) Private Limited since July 2003. He has been entrusted with developing the business into a key long-term resource for Sara Lee Corp. He brings with him 9 years of experience at Sara Lee Branded Apparel, North America.

Krishna has played a key role in establishing Sara Lee Apparel in India, right from developing the business plan to recruiting the core team and overseeing the launch. His responsibilities include identifying key strategic partners, and building and managing corporate relationships with them.

Krishna has a B.Tech (Hons.) from IIT (Kharagpur). He also has an MBA in Marketing & International Business from the University of Michigan, Ross School of Business (Ann Arbor, USA).

A fitness-enthusiast and bibliophile, Krishna and his family live in Mumbai.

Nachiket More
Executive Director, ICICI Bank

Nachiket Mor has a Ph.D. in Economics from Penn and an MBA from IIM, Ahmedabad.

While completing his Ph.D., he was associated with a Philadelphia-based hedge fund (Quantitative Financial Strategies) for three years. He has worked with ICICI since 1987 in a variety of jobs, including, Corporate Planning, Project Finance and Treasury. From April 2001 he is a member of the ICICI Bank s Board of Directors as the Executive Director responsible for Corporate and Government Banking; Rural and Micro Banking; Markets; Project & Infrastructure Finance and Social Initiatives.

In addition to his work within ICICI Bank, among other things, in the past he has served as the Chairman of the Fixed Income Money Market and Derivatives Association of India (FIMMDA) for two years and as a Board Member of Wipro Limited for five years. His current assignments include memberships of the Board of the Institute for Financial Management and Research (IFMR) and the Board of the Pratham India Educational Initiative (PIEI).

Gopal Srinivasan
Joint Managing Director, Sundaram-Clayton (TVS Group)

Mr. Gopal Srinivasan, a key member of the TVS family, is the Director of TVS Electronics Limited, Joint Managing Director of Sundaram-Clayton Limited and Director of various other TVS Group companies.

He is a commerce graduate from Loyola College, Chennai and an MBA (Industrial and Business Administration) from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA.

He has served as the President of Manufacturers Association for Information Technology (MAIT) and been a member of various committees convened by State & Central Governments for IT development in the country.

He was awarded the "Electronics Man of the Year" by ELCINA for the year 1996-97. He was also recently awarded for "Outstanding Contribution to Development of IT Channels in India" by Jasubhai digital media.

Mr. Gopal Srinivasan passionately believes that technology can improve the life of the common man. He is extremely entrepreneurial in nature and has so far built over a dozen new businesses. A vivid reader, he enjoys meeting people and spending time with his family.

Dr. Gautam Ahuja (Moderator)
Professor of Corporate Strategy and International Business (CSIB), Ross School of Business

Dr. Gautam Ahuja is Professor of Corporate Strategy and International Business (CSIB) and a Michael R. and Mary Kay Hallman Faculty Fellow at the University of Michigan Business School. He is Chair of the CSIB group. Professor Ahuja teaches an MBA elective on Advanced Competitive Analysis.

Prior to joining UMBS in 2001 he was on the faculty of the Red McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin. Professor Ahuja has received numerous teaching awards and honors, and was chosen as the Best Professor in the MBA program by the MBA students in 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2001 at Texas. In 2003 he was selected as the Best Professor in the MBA program at the University of Michigan Business School. In 2004 he won this award again becoming the first back-to-back winner of this distinction. In 2004 he also won the Ph. D. Teaching Excellence Award becoming the first Professor to win both the MBA and the Ph.D. awards in the same year. Since 1997/8 he has also been recognized as outstanding faculty in Business Week's annual guide to the top business schools.

Professor Ahuja obtained his doctoral degree from The University of Michigan in 1996. He also holds a PGDM from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and B.A. (Honors in Economics), from St. Stephen's College, Delhi University, as well as an M.A. and MBA from the University of Michigan. His work experience includes co-founding and running his own company and several years in various managerial positions with Pond's/Unilever, a global consumer products company. He has also designed educational board games.

Professor Ahuja's research interests focus on how firms use technology to gain and exploit competitive advantage. His research has received several international awards from the top scholarly associations in the field including the Academy of Management (AOM), the Strategic Management Society (SMS), and The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). Among these awards is the Free Press Award for outstanding research in Strategic Management, the Sage-Pondy and West Publishing Awards for outstanding research in Organization Theory, both from The Academy of Management, and the College on Organization Science Best Dissertation Award from The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). His publications include several articles in the top scholarly journals and have been cited by various federal and international bodies such as the EPA, OECD and UNEP. Some of his recent work on acquisitions has been profiled in Sloan Management Review. He is an Associate Editor for the journal, Management Science, a Senior Editor for the journal Organization Science and a member of the Editorial Board for the journals, Academy of Management Review, Administrative Science Quarterly, and Strategic Organization.