The India Economic Summit focused on the theme “Creating Indian Narratives on Global Challenges”. Highlights of the summit included:

The first-ever Open Forum India offered an unprecedented opportunity for the general public to participate in the summit. The Open Forum India session, entitled My India @2022, focused on the country’s demographic challenges. With two-thirds of India’s 1.3 billion citizens under the age of 35, the session explored how the country can create a future to which young people can aspire. Open Forum India was organized in partnership with the Department of Management Studies at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi).

The World Economic Forum High-Level Working Group on Infrastructure Financing in India agreed on three priorities for 2018. This multistakeholder body, which held its second meeting at the India Economic Summit, brings together senior decision-makers from the government, businesses and investors to advance the infrastructure agenda in India. The 2018 priorities are:
- Adapt India’s existing PPP concession agreement/framework and develop a “model PPP contract” for implementation of infrastructure projects
- Push for formulation of an independent Infrastructure PPP General Council that can function as a super-regulator or a super-mediator on systemic risks and issues in large infrastructure projects
- Select a pilot PPP project on which the group can work together to explore specific issues and challenges in depth

The Forum launched the report Incredible India 2.0 – India’s $20 Billion Tourism Opportunity. The report supports Indian policy-makers and industry experts who are working towards welcoming over 15 million foreign tourists annually by 2025 and becoming the world’s largest aviation market by 2030. India is already one of the fastest-growing aviation markets in the world, with domestic demand reaching nearly 100 million passengers. Yet, to date, annual international arrivals have remained relatively low, at 9 million. The new report estimates that, with a growth in international arrivals to 20 million a year in India, the country’s tourism sector could incrementally grow by over $19 billion and lead to the creation of up to 1 million additional jobs.

Nearly 100 leaders in India’s agriculture sector agreed to work on public-private partnerships that will contribute to Prime Minister Modi’s vision for doubling farmers’ incomes by 2022. The working meeting, co-hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare and the World Economic Forum’s New Vision for Agriculture (NVA) initiative, included 12 state governments and three national ministries, Indian and global companies, technology innovators, farmer leaders, civil society groups and experts. The project will build on the experience to date in three states – Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra – which have developed state-level platforms to drive agriculture value-chain partnerships with support from the NVA.

Urvashi Sahni of the Study Hall Educational Foundation (SHEF) is the India Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2017. The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship honoured her exceptional contribution towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of education by empowering India’s most disadvantaged girls. Aided by technology and partnerships with the state governments of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, SHEF has worked with 900 schools, trained 5,000 teachers and impacted 150,000 girls directly and 270,000 girls indirectly affected by poverty and gender discrimination.

The World Economic Forum Primary Care Coalition partners validated a pilot project plan put forth in the Kullu District of Himachal Pradesh. Tata Consultancy Services, collaborating partners on the Primary Care Coalition, also highlighted their Digital Nerve Centre, an open platform allowing for integration of existing expertise and activities such as vaccines, diagnostics and check-ups. The Digital Nerve Centre and Primary Care Coalition have earned support from local and national-level officials, including the office of the Minister of Health.

A Conversation with Smriti Zubin Irani and Karan Johar