Leadership Spotlight

The new face of Indian business is mature, confident, strong, hungry for growth and ready to be among the best in the world, India Finance Minister P. Chidambaram told a standing-room-only crowd at the first of Wharton’s 2007-2008 Leadership Lectures last fall.

Addressing an audience in Wharton’s Dhirubhai Ambani Auditorium, Chidambaram highlighted a range of topics including India’s surge in economic power, the importance of a global economic community and the need to maintain a healthy relationship with its world partners.

“In recent years you’ve invited the CEOs of the best U.S. businesses, Microsoft and Starbucks, Tyco and Intel, to speak at this series,” Chidambaram said. “What do they have in common? Each one is a child of an innovative idea and a leader in its business. There are many Indian business leaders who would qualify to speak at this series on the grounds of innovation, and I am here today to speak on their behalf.”

He also emphasized that Indian business must go from local to global, qualifying India’s recent 9.4 percent GDP growth by saying, “If that growth does not impact the global community, it’s not sustainable.”

Despite his outward confidence, Chidambaram acknowledged that he has worries, particularly about events that are outside of his control. He listed potential problems including a sharp rise in crude oil or commodity prices, a recession in the United States and Europe, the “sub-prime mortgage problem” and what he called “bellicose speeches” in the United Nations.