Ratan Tata, Amartya Sen to address Kerala conference

Ratan Tata, Amartya Sen to address Kerala conference
Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, Anand Mahindra, Ratan Tata

Thiruvananthapuram: Industry leaders Ratan Tata, Anand Mahindra and Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen are among an impressive line-up of speakers expected to share their insights and suggestions at the ambitious global meet, Kerala Looks Ahead (KLA).

The three-day event, beginning on February 1 is envisaged to take the state forward by attracting investment from the country and outside in the post-pandemic era.

At a Special Industry session on February 3, other industry leaders who are expected to attend include Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Executive Chairperson of Biocon Limited, Kris Gopalakrishnan, Chairperson of Axilor Ventures, M A Yusuff Ali, Chairperson of Lulu Group, Ravi Pillai, Managing Director of RP Group and Azad Moopen, Chairperson and Managing Director of Aster Medcity, an official statement said here.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan would inaugurate the conference on February 1.

Vijayan and Industries Minister E P Jayarajan would attend the special session, it said.

Organised by the Kerala State Planning Board, Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz and WHO Chief Scientist, Soumya Swaminathan would be opening speakers of the meet on February 1, followed by two days of brainstorming on consolidating the core strengths of Kerala and adopting the best models for a bright future.

The state would showcase a broad range of its robust and resilient industry before business leaders and stakeholders at the special session on the industry, besides highlighting the enhanced Ease of Doing business backed by a string of policy interventions, it said.

The session would also explore the government interventions to modernize the critical sectors of the economy by channelling constructive suggestions emerging during the conclave.

"A defining feature of this conference is that it looks ahead to the views of industry veterans on laying down the road map for the state," said planning Board Vice-Chairperson, Dr V K Ramachandran.

The suggestions and consensus emerging from the deliberations could become vital inputs in strengthening our policy initiatives and addressing the gaps," he said.

Venu V IAS, Member Secretary of Kerala State Planning Board said Kerala was keen to follow a development model of expediting economic growth without jettisoning its storied social security and welfare commitments.

"It is important to note that the participating industry leaders are known for their larger concerns for the less privileged sections of the society.

This will make their views all the more significant in our context," he said.

In another session on industrial possibilities on February 2, Myungjae Moon, Director of Institute for Future Government Studies, Yonsei University, would speak on South Korean experience in promoting industrial development and the economic growth possibilities for Kerala in the emerging global order.

The session would see presentations by Rizwan Soomar, MD and CEO of DP World-Port and Logistics, V Ramgopal Rao, Director of Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, Daisy Chittilapilly, MD, Digital Transformation, CISCO and Tony Thomas, former CIO, Nissan Motor, the statement added.

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