Speakers at the Forbes Global CEO conference say the Indian startup market has ‘tremendous potential’
The Forbes Global CEO conference was held this week in Singapore. Gautam Adani, the second-richest person in the world, predicted in his keynote speech that India’s economy will reach $30 trillion. Over 670 of India’s 760 districts, according to Adani, have at least one registered company.
“India is now on the cusp of creating several thousands of entrepreneurs,” Adani said. “A smartphone and inexpensive data, mixed with aspirations, make the most potent mix to transform a nation. And the digitally enabled India’s journey is just beginning.”
In response to a question on why there were no great returns from India’s startup ecosystem, Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin said, “I think India is a huge market with just tremendous potential. And I think as the market continues to mature, and as you get into a better macroeconomic environment, it is a market to bet on, combined with Southeast Asia.”
However, Saverin cautioned that India’s startups are evolving at a slower rate than those in China in areas like the simplicity of asset exits and market liquidity. India’s foreign direct investments in the first quarter of the year still lagged behind China’s, according to a report from the Ministry of Finance in August. While India only received about $17 billion in FDI, China garnered more than $100 billion.
Jenny Lee, a venture capitalist with GGV Capital who has backed some of the most well-known Chinese companies, including Didi Chuxing, XPeng, and Kingsoft WPS, also spoke at the Forbes conference. She said it’s time to look further ahead as the geopolitical competition between the U.S. and China and pandemic-triggered upheaval in global systems put a “huge grind” on current affairs.
Speakers at the 20th Forbes Global CEO Conference
The 20th Forbes Global CEO Conference featured a line-up of distinguished speakers including Erick Thohir, Minister of State-Owned Enterprises, Indonesia; Jenny Johnson, President and CEO of Franklin Templeton; Eduardo Saverin, Cofounder and Managing Partner at B Capital; Jenny Lee, Managing Partner at GGV Capital; Ajay Banga, Vice Chairman of General Atlantic; Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute of India; Miwako Date, President and CEO of Mori Trust Co., Ltd; Byju Raveendran, Founder and CEO of BYJU’S; Nisa Leung, Managing Partner at Qiming Venture Partners; Ferran Soriano, CEO of City Football Group and Manchester City Football Club; Ho Kwon Ping, Executive Chairman of Banyan Tree Holdings; Martin Hartono, CEO of GDP Venture; Janet Henry, Global Chief Economist at HSBC; Lee Yeow Chor, Group Managing Director and CEO of IOI Corporation Bhd; Goodwin Gaw, Managing Principal and Chairman of Gaw Capital Partners; John Studzinski, Vice Chairman and Managing Director at PIMCO; Arif P. Rachmat, Cofounder and Executive Chairman of TAP Group; Hiro Mizuno, Special Envoy of U.N. Secretary-General on Innovative Finance and Sustainable Investments; Chairul Tanjung, Chairman of CT Corp and Randall S. Kroszner, Norman R. Bobins Professor of Economics at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Other speakers include Anderson Tanoto, Managing Director at RGE; Sudarshan Venu, Managing Director at TVS Motor Company; Nancy Pangestu Tabardel, CEO of ANB Investment; Kishin RK, Founder and CEO of RB Capital Group; Meng Kuok, Group CEO and Founder of Caldecott Music Group; Aaron Tan, Cofounder and CEO of Carro; Katrina Razon, CEO of KSR Ventures; Kyungsun Chung, Cofounder and Managing Partner at The Sylvan Group; Alvin Sariaatmadja, CEO of Emtek; Sarena Cheah, Executive Director at Sunway Berhad; Russell Coutts, CEO of SailGP; Joe Ravitch, Cofounder and Partner at The Raine Group; Serge Pun, Executive Chairman of Yoma Group of Companies; Wendy Yap, Founder, President Director and CEO of Nippon Indosari Corpindo; Shayan F Rahman, CEO of Beximco Group; Cheah Cheng Hye, Co-Chairman and Co-CIO of Value Partners Group; Ng Kok Song, Founding Chairman of Avanda Investment Management; Allan Zeman, Chairman of Lan Kwai Fong Group; Shinta Widjaja Kamdani, CEO of Sintesa Group; V Shankar, CEO and Cofounder of Gateway Partners; Chatri Sityodtong, Founder, Chairman and CEO of ONE; Laurent Junique, Founder and CEO of TDCX; Lily Kong, President of Singapore Management University; Neil Davidson, Executive Chairman of Coda Payments; Constance Wang, COO of FTX and Co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets; Jeffrey Perlman, Chairman of ESR and Managing Director at Warburg Pincus; Simon Loong, Founder and Group CEO of WeLab and Kuldeep Singh Rajput, Founder and CEO of Biofourmis.
