Recession Proof Businesses- An all-round Perspective

Keeping in mind the current phase of recovery for economies and industries the world over, the Institute of Management, Nirma University kick started Prayaag ’09, its annual Management Conclave, with the theme, “Recession Proof Business-Directions for the Future”. The main theme of the conclave was carried forward by eminent speakers from various industries from the perspective of Government institutions, Banking and IT offering an all round perspective.

The inaugural session had Mr. Maheshwar Sahu - Principal Secretary (Industries and Mines) Govt of Gujarat as the Guest of Honour. He said that “there can never be a recession proof business, one can only mitigate the risk” but on the other hand stressed the Government’s role in providing infrastructure to alleviate supply side constraints and stimulate domestic demand. He concluded his talk on a positive note, stating that signals that recession will pass by are bright and India will come out of this crisis in a better shape. Mr. S.K. Das - GM, Operations, Bank of Baroda, Gujarat region presided over the function as the Chief Guest. He praised the conservative banking system and timely action from the RBI for insulating Indian banks from the worst effects of the recession. He also expressed confidence in India’s ability to handle the current downturn because of pro active policymakers and strong fundamentals of the economy.

The main message from the next speaker, Mr. Rajesh Gupta - Sales Director, Asia – Pacific, Intel India Technology was that companies need to drive up innovation and efficiency in a downturn. He stressed on Intel’s Philosophy of cutting down on discretionary spending, and not on non Discretionary spending like R&D. In fact, quoting Charles Kettering, “Business will come back when we have products which people would want to buy” he explained Intel’s new investments in designing new products. His interactive speech was replete with anecdotes and interesting facts about the Internet Economy. He also dwelled on the impact of connectivity on various sections of the society, from Fishermen in Tamil Nadu to Diamond traders in Surat. His statement “Every 10 million new connections have an impact of $ 1 billion on the GDP” only emphasized the importance of connectivity. He also offered an international perspective, comparing the situation in India with that in China and Brazil.

The next session saw Mr. Navin Shah, CEO, P9 Communications offered insights about the theme from the media and marketing perspective. “Foreplay is important to capture consumer interest to finally draw his attention to the brand”, was his clear message. He also interspersed his session with ad videos to drive home his point.

The first day of the conference thus drew to a close with experts from a wide array of sectors from the Government to multinational giants like Intel to media companies like P9 offering sound advice to help take the recession head on and emerge as winners.

Day two of the conclave will have Mr. Jagdeep Kochar, Executive Director, IT Division, GNFC,Dr. Vikram Raj, Project Advisor – Audit, United Nations, Mr. Baqar Naqvi, AVP - Retail and Consumer Products of Technopak Advisors and Dr. Nitin Naik, Head HR – India and SAARC Region, Andrew Telecom addressing the audience.