Eminent Speaker Series

INDIA: Is The Despair Misplaced?

Guest Speaker

His Excellency Dr T C A Raghavan

High Commissioner of India

Tuesday 25 September 2012

12.15 to 2.15 pm

Imperial Ballroom, Orchard Wing, Level 35

Mandarin Orchard Singapore Hotel

333 Orchard Road, Singapore

The second fastest growing major economy a decade ago – as the fruits of the 1991 economic liberalisation began to show – India was widely regarded as the emerging power to watch. It had world-class software engineers, ambitious entrepreneurs who bought up global brands such as Jaguar-Land Rover, and a huge domestic market that pulled in increasing amounts of foreign investment. While other economies were roiled by the 2008 global financial crisis, India continued to expand steadily. Domestically, it was at peace. The great convulsions of the 1980s and 1990s had subsided.

But the last two years have brought forth doomsayers. A series of corruption scandals have weakened the state’s ability to govern. Foreign investors are staying on the sidelines. Exports are sliding and the economy is feared to be slipping back to the “Hindu rate of growth” of socialist India. Southeast Asia, particularly Singapore, has a vital stake in the India story. In July, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong visited New Delhi, and may do so again later this year. India has publicly acknowledged Singapore as its closest partner in Asean. But is it time for Singapore to start worrying about India? Or does the long term India story still hold good?

Hear and engage one of India’s most senior career diplomats on these and other themes. To attend the lunch talk, please register with the Secretariat. Details are in the response form.