11th Wharton India Economic Forum 2006: 'Realizing The Indian Dream'

New Delhi, Delhi, India

Wharton India Economic Forum 2006 (WIEF), the premier student-run business forum focusing on India, will take place on November 11th, 2006 at the Doubletree Hotel in Philadelphia. Established in 1996, this year marks the eleventh year of the conference and also coincides with the 125th anniversary of The Wharton School. The theme of this year's conference is 'Realizing the Indian Dream.'

The past decade has seen India at the forefront of the global business and political landscape. Though the success has been attributed to a myriad of factors such as the country's focus on information technology, favorable economic policies, and a growing number of ambitious entrepreneurs, the common thread underlying all of these initiatives is the Indian Dream. Although the Indian Dream parallels the idea of the American Dream, we seek to further delve into what exactly constitutes India's ideal for success. WIEF 2006 will serve as the platform for thought leaders to define their perception of this dream.

WIEF 2006 has attracted some of the most prominent business leaders in the world today. A sample of the speakers for this year are:

Industry, Products and Services

-- Mr. Rahul Bajaj, Chairman, Bajaj Auto

-- Mr. Bharat Desai, Chairman & CEO, Syntel

-- Mr. Adi Godrej, Chairman, Godrej Industries Limited

-- Capt. G.R. Gopinath, Founder & MD, Air Deccan

-- Mr. Rajat Gupta, Former Worldwide Managing Director, McKinsey & Co.

-- Mr. Harish Manwani, President, Asia Africa, Unilever

-- Ms. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairperson & MD, Biocon

-- Ms. Madhu Nair, MD, The Leela Palaces & Resorts

-- Mr. Rajendra Pawar, Founder & Chairman, NIIT

-- Ms. Urvi Piramal, Chairperson, Ashok Piramal Group

-- Mr. Keshav Prasad, MD, Applied Materials (India)

-- Mr. Subhanu Saxena, CEO & President, Novartis UK


Private Equity, Venture Capital and Real Estate


-- Mr. Neeraj Bharadwaj, Partner, Apax Partners

-- Mr. Akhil Gupta, Chairman, The Blackstone Group, India

-- Mr. Prakash Gurbaxani, CEO, TSI Ventures

-- Mr. Shiv Khemka, Vice Chairman, SUN Group

-- Mr. Ajit Nazre, Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

-- Mr. Rahul Patwardhan, CEO, IndiaCo Ventures (P) Ltd; GP, Duke Equity Partn


Media & Entertainment


-- Mr. Rajat Jain, MD, The Walt Disney Company (India) Pvt. Ltd.

-- Mr. Karan Johar, Filmaker & Producer

-- Mr. Ronnie Screwvala, CEO, UTV & President, Film and TV Producers Guild, India

-- Mr. Manmohan Shetty, Chairman, Adlabs


Banking and Financial Services


-- Mr O. P. Bhatt, Chairman, State Bank of India

-- Mr. Gunit Chadha, CEO & MD, Deutsche Bank AG, India

-- Mr. Rana Kapoor, Founder, MD & CEO, Yes Bank

-- Mr. Jerome P. Kenney, Vice Chairman, Merrill Lynch

-- Dr. Anil K. Khandelwal, Chairman & MD, Bank of Baroda

-- Mr. Sanjay Nayar, CEO - India & Area Head - Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Citigroup

-- Mr. Neeraj Swaroop, CEO, Standard Chartered Bank, India


Government and Public Policy


-- Ms. Neelam Deo, Consul General of India, New York

--Ambassador Raminder Singh Jassal, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of India

-- Shri Adarsh Kishore, Ministry of Finance, Secretary (Expenditure), Government of India

-- Mr. Vinod Rai, Secretary, Banking Sector, Government of India

-- Shri Rajeeva Ratna Shah, Member-Secretary, Planning Commission, Government of India

-- Mr. Ron Somers, President, US India Business Council

-- Mr. Shashi Tharoor, Under-Secretary General, United Nations

-- Dr. Arvind Virmani, Principal Advisor, Planning Commission, Government of India


These speakers and many others will take part in the following panels related to India's economic prospects:


-- Destination India: Entrepreneurs at Work

-- Gateway to India: Opportunities and Challenges

-- Government: Driving India Forward

-- Indian Financial Services: Fortune in the Middle of the Pyramid

-- Indian Industry: Redefining Boundaries

-- Investing in India: A Cyclical or Secular Story?

-- Media and Entertainment: It's Showtime!

This year's conference will engage attendees in a valuable dialogue on the promise of India's future growth and development. For those interested in participating in the Indian Dream, please join us for this event.

The WIEF 2006 conference has been generously supported by Merrill Lynch, Yes Bank, Perot Systems, Syntel, Godrej, The Leela Palaces and Resorts, Merck and Pipal Research. The official Marketing and Creative Agency is Mediasphere and the official PR Agency is IPAN.

With its unmatched faculty and academic programs, Wharton is the most comprehensive source of business knowledge in the world. The first collegiate school of business in 1881, we continue our heritage of innovation today, in an exciting environment that generates the ideas and knowledge that transform global business.

Visit www.whartonindia.com or email wief press@wharton.upenn.edu for more information.

Arun Shaw, IPAN, +91 (011) 42492100 arun.shaw@ipan.com

Source: Wharton India Economic Forum (Business Wire India)

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