SPEECH BY THE SECRETARY GENERAL OF FICCI, DR. RAJIV KUMAR AT THE PRESENTATION OF THE COMPENDIUM ON BUSINESS DELEGATIONS TO THE PRESIDENT OF INDIA BY ASSOCHAM, CII AND FICCI

Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi, 18th June 2012

A lot has been said already; I just want to add on behalf of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), it really Madam President, is an honour and a privilege to be here, to be able to join all others, in presenting you and felicitating you with the Compendium that we have prepared. This is a summary of what you have achieved in these 5 years, on behalf of the Indian industry, and how you helped us in taking industry forward.

Madam President, it is actually the sign of the times that the highest office in the country, has found it fit to take industry with her on these delegations, because you know that when in 1990 the reforms started, the external sector accounted only for 19 percent of India's GDP. Today it accounts for more than 50 percent to 55 percent. Therefore engaging with the world becomes really a prime concern, and no more can India, as you have shown yourself, be self-reliant by looking inward. We have to engage, because today the world expects this from India.

Madam President, India to be more globally engaged, more globally responsible, has to be brought to the highest table of global governance, and that is the responsibility that all of us have to accept, whether we are in government or in industry, or anywhere in the bureaucracy. Madam President, the example you have set, I hope and I am sure, will be followed by all others in government. I think what you have done is to create and give an example where the trust between the public and the private sector has to increase, and has to work together. In these days when Indian Industry has to compete with everybody else in the world, in a ferociously competitive world, it is, I think everybody's understanding that unless the government, the public and the private sector work together, we will not be able to succeed in this competition.

So in that respect, Madam I really sincerely thank you for having led the way. It is under your leadership that I have seen that we have organized so many such conclaves and so many get togethers, and you have seen that when the Government and the Industry work together, we can achieve much more, than what we can do individually. Madam it is really an honour to be here, and I wish you all the very best, and wish you many many years of very active life, and we from the industry will continue to look forward to you for your leadership, and to your guidance, as to how we can take our country's interests forward.

Thank you