NITI Aayog CEO Asks IITians To Target Global Markets

Amitabh Kant, Chief Executive Officer of NITI Aayog, has asked the students of IIT (Hyderabad) should target the global markets.

“Think of the world as their market and not just the domestic market. We now import a lot of our mobile phones, television sets and telecommunication equipment. Manufacturing is important and we should increase it from its current share of 18 percent of our GDP,” he said.

“It is important for all of you to understand that we live in a globalised world and there is no place for protectionism. We need to penetrate global markets. Japan and China are export-driven economies that have thrived on trade,” he said. He was delivering the Convocation address via video conference at the institute’s Kandi facility near here.

As many as 522 students, including 69 PhD students, have graduated at the eighth Convocation of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-Hyderabad) held at the institute’s Kandi facility near here.

The Institute, which has nearly 2,855 students across 16 departments, has an aggregate sanctioned research funding of over Rs 500 crore from nearly 350 sponsored projects.

“We need to make India easy to do business and we, in the Government, have taken several steps by simplifying Rules and Regulations that resulted in the country improving substantially in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business index,” he said.

Amitabh Kant stressed the need for bringing more women into work force. “If the country is to grow at 9 percent, we must have gender parity. We must increase the participation of women in the economy. We cannot grow without bringing half of our population into the workforce,” an IIT statement, quoting him said.

“Our incubators in healthcare, microelectronics, and technology have 14 start-ups so far. Three of them are making profits, five received funds, and three companies employ more than 40 people,” B V R Mohan Reddy, Chairman of Board of Governors of IIT-H, and former Chairman of Nasscom, said.—The Hindu Business Line