The South Asian Business Association (SABA) at Harvard Business School organized a one-day Conference on India and Its Neighbors on Sunday February 27, 2005. More than 700 people attended the conference.  Azim Premji and Kiran Mazumdar Shaw were the keynote speakers. The conference featured eleven panel sessions on various topics including Healthcare in India, South Asian Women in Workplace, VC and Private Equity in India, Microfinance Models, Infrastructure Challenge, Offshore Services, Reverse Brain Drain, Indo-American Alliances, Consumer Markets, Indian Multinationals and India vs. China.

The Reverse Brain Drain panel featured Siddhartha Mehta, Founder and CEO, Foremost Systems; Raj Kondur, Founder and CEO, Nirvana BOP, Alman Aslam, Investment Banker, and Alan Rosling, Executive Director, Tata Sons Ltd. All of them had moved back to India/Pakistan after working in the US/Europe for a number of years. When asked about the pleasant surprises and unexpected obstacles encountered, Mehta said he found it easy to meet the ‘drivers’ in the country and experienced warmth and depth in business relationship. On the contrary, despite having heard a lot about the talent pool, he found it difficult to hire people who met his needs.  Finding very little competition in Pakistan in the area of investment banking came as a surprise to Aslam.

Kondur  spoke about the work in the non-profit sector where every little thing done had huge impact in India compared to incremental impact in the US. His organization currently feeds 9500 kids a day . His work helped him  find happiness and gave a purpose to his life. Rosling were very upbeat on India's prospects. "India is happening and finally the potential is being realized" said Rosling. In all cases, each of the panelists said that they were able to make a difference and contribute to structural change. For example, in the last four years the financial sector in private hands in Pakistan has increased from 25% to 85% and instead of the government just approving projects, it is now taking an active role in facilitating them. In India, more people are now open to ideas and even unpopular choices like closing unprofitable plants can be implemented as long as they are done professionally.

Ravi Parthasarathy, Chairman and MD, Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Ltd., Sanjay Bhatnagar, Chairman and CEO, THOT Capital and V. Kapoor were part of the Infrastructure Challenge panel. While there was a fairly heated debate on many topics,  the panelists agreed that since India’s economy is only 7.5% of US economy, the cost of  infrastructural facilities and services has to be low to be affordable. Key infrastructure sectors include power, roads (there are now 15 toll roads), ports, manufacturing and water. "Debt and capital markets are affordable, money is relatively cheap" said Bhatnagar. The panelists cautioned that one must be careful to differentiate between corporate debt (relatively easy) and project debt (relatively difficult). Cost estimate for infrastructure improvement ranges from  $50 - 60 B which cannot be raised domestically and need external investment. Lack of an energy policy in India makes it difficult to attract external investment to the energy sector.

While dealing with offshore services in South Asia,  enforcement of  IP issues is a concern. A number of BPOs in China, perceived to be more disciplined than those in India, operate specifically to serve the Japanese market

The panel on Indian Multinationals consisted of Dilip Mehta, President and CEO, Rosy Blue, Rajesh Hukku, Chairman and MD, iflex Solutions, Alan Rosling, Executive Director, Tata Sons Ltd. Till 1990. "To be a multinational, one must think of branding. The branding process eventually leads to IP. Global alliances are essential to shorten learning time for doing business in a new country. One must think global but act local and  be a local leader," said Mehta. According to Hukku, Indian companies were thought of as ‘low cost’ service providers. "Global branding can’t be just  - I am cheaper. In order to be a multinational, one needs to add value to the customer and should have products of global significance, i.e. one must be able to sell the products in low cost and high cost countries," said Hukku. To be a successful multinational company , one needs to understand the business of the customers. This will allow companies to develop and provide solutions that can improve the business process of their customers.  "Being an Indian multinational is a challenge. Everyone talks about IT but try selling watches and cars. In order to succeed, one needs to be a leader in the technology behind the product, i.e. engineering excellence is a must," said Rosling.

To fully benefit from the South Asian consumer market, it is essential to understand, engage, entertain, inform, educate and then earn. Bobby Bedi, Film Producer, talked about the delivery media. Most of the people in rural India do not have hard-wired electrical connections but a lot of them have mobile phones. Thus, this can be a medium to deliver movies. In addition, the availability of legitimate capital and venture capital funds for movies has been a major bonanza for small-budget film producers. Ajit Balakrishnan, Chairman and CEO, Rediff.com discussed the need to fix interest groups in politics by increasing public awareness.  Mir Ibrahim Rahman, CEO, Geo TV, talked about ‘reality’ shows in Pakistan TV and how daily life interactions and situations can lead to successful shows.

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