India Growth Story
India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world; driven by multiple game changers - from demographic dividends, the growing and resilient economy, to increased focus of the Government on pro-foreign investment policies, these have all helped to put India on the Global Map.
India is unique in terms of the fact that it has something to offer:
- Business – The Financial Times declared India as the world’s top FDI destination attracting $31bn from foreign investors during the first half of 2015. With the various campaigns and projects of the Government, the focus of multi-national and foreign companies will continually increase, with many of them seeking to set-up base in India, be it a service or manufacturing industry
- Entrepreneurial - With over 3,100 start-ups, India is ranked as the fourth largest start-up hub in the world (Economic Survey 2014-15) driven by a hyper-growth in technology start-up and software product landscape. In order to provide the necessary fillip to the start-up revolution in India the Government has also launched the India Aspiration Fund with an initial corpus of INR 400 crore.
- Social Enterprise and Not -for-Profit – An alarming Global Hunger Index, substantial poverty, illiteracy and overpopulation are some of the unique issues hindering India's ambitions. Involvement with social welfare programs can help millions in a country that has a third of the world's poor.
With the new Government’s focus on attracting foreign investment though campaigns like ‘Make in India’, Digital India’, Smart Cities etc., India is becoming a country which is increasingly hard to ignore for global businesses.
Role of the India Oxford Business Network (OBN)
The India OBN provides a platform for business networking for students and alumni, and also serves as a forum for sharing of knowledge, job and networking opportunities in India. Some of our key activities include:
- Speaker events – We invite a large number of Indian leaders ranging from top businessmen, policy makers to entrepreneurs to share their experiences and provide great insights into the Indian ecosystem
- India Trek – Each year in April, we conduct a week long Business Trek where a large group of India OBN members travel to India to meet top companies across all sectors for networking and career opportunities
- Cultural festivals – In collaboration with our Social Committee, we organize and celebrate major Indian festivals such as Diwali and Holi which also provides a great opportunity for our non-Indian friends to know more about India’s rich cultural heritage.
Through the India OBN we hope to provide a platform to the MBA community to not only understand India’s unique business landscape and explore entrepreneurial avenues but also to provide the non-Indian cohorts the opportunity to experience its unique and diverse social and cultural heritage.
Ashish Gupta and Nivedita Garg are the Co-chairs of the India OBN for 2015-16. Visit the student information page for more details and/or connect with us on Facebook.
