India’s G20 presidency a great tourism opportunity: Shripad Yesso Naik, Tourism Minister

New Delhi: India’s tourism industry has a great opportunity to create jobs and upgrade infrastructure during India’s presidency of G20, as the large number of G20 events in 50 cities across India would generate substantial international traffic, says Mr Shripad Yesso Naik, Minister of State of Tourism, Ports, Shipping and Waterways.

Addressing India’s management leaders on the occasion of the 67th Foundation Day of All India Management Association (AIMA), which is also observed as the National Management Day, the minister expressed optimism that India’s tourism sector will also gain international tourists as the global economy slows down and tourists seek more affordable international destinations.

The Minister presented AIMA Life Time Achievement Award for Management to Mr NR Narayana Murthy, Founder, Infosys; and AIMA Public Service Excellence Awards to Mr Dilip Asbe, MD and CEO, NPCI, and Mr Bunker Roy, Founder, Barefoot College.

He also gave away AIMA ‐ Dr J S Juneja Award for Creativity and Innovation in MSMEs to Shree Sahajanands Automeck Pvt Ltd and AIMA – Dr Ram Tarneja Award for Best Article in Indian Management to Mr Sanjeev Baitmangalkar.

AIMA President, Mr Shrinivas Dempo described AIMA’s foundation day as an occasion to mark another milestone in the organization’s long journey and to set course for the next destination in its ceaseless quest for management excellence. “Today, we once again renew our commitment to nurture and promote Indian management,” he said.

Mr Dempo said that the biggest task for Indian management in the present environment is to manage the unprecedented and harness the uncertainty. He pointed out that technological churn, geopolitical friction, supply chain reorganization, climate change fight, policy volatility, and the lingering fear of another pandemic are pushing and rushing the leaders. “Leaders need to cut through the ever-growing noise and focus on the essentials to build their own certainty in this age of anxiety,” he said.

Speaking on the subject, the minister said that India’s tourism sector could draw lessons from the covid disruption and become more self-reliant by attracting the rich Indian tourists to explore India instead of spending their holidays abroad. “The government is particularly committed to the domestic tourism. Indians need to get to know their own country and culture,” he said.

Mr Murthy discussed his learning about success and leadership in a conversation with AIMA Senior Vice President, Mr Nikhil Sawhney. Mr Murthy said that for him success meant brining happiness to others. He credited his mother for that lesson. He also highlighted the role of parents in instilling values that eventually reflect in corporate governance. “No matter how corrupt a father is, he does not want his child to be a chor,” Mr Murthy said.

The main culprit in corporate misgovernance is the asymmetry of benefits between the owner-manager and the rest, Mr Murthy said. He also emphasized that there is no threshold of business success after which one should aim to go straight. “You cannot start practicing values and corporate governance after reaching a certain turnover,” he said. He also warned entrepreneurs against chasing valuation targets and gave example of a person who sought a particular valuation and somehow managed to achieve it only to lose it badly very quickly.

Talking about the future of technology, Mr Murthy said that the fundamental function of all technologies, old or new, is to make life more comfortable, raise productivity, save costs, and improve quality. AI, Internet of Things, big data etc will do just that. He argued that AI is an assisting technology and will not replace humans because human mind is the master. He pointed out that no computer can be as smart as even a child’s mind.

Mr Asbe and Mr Roy engaged in a chat with Mr Dempo about the power of inclusion. Mr Asbe said that the objective of NPCI has been to create payment systems that are relevant to India and its next mission is to create digital payment systems that do not need an internet connection and that can be operated with voice. Also, the NPCI would introduce use of local languages in payment processing. He said that increasing the velocity and transparency of money through digital payments has allowed more frequent use of money and higher tax collections. He pointed out that currently 300 million smartphone owners and 50 million merchants are using UPI and the next target is to onboard the 400 million feature phone users. Another key project for NPCI is to facilitate crossborder payments. India would like to be self-sufficient in global payments and control remittances and trade in 30 most important countries, he said.

Mr Roy, whose rural development outfit has completed 50 years, said that training old women and looking for rural solutions to rural challenges are the keys to improving the life of the rural poor. He said that training men is a waste because all they want is a certificate which they can use to find a job in a city, whereas training grandmothers helps entire village. He mentioned the ‘solar mama’ programme that his organization runs with the Government of India under which 1700 grandmothers from 96 countries have been trained to electrify villages using solar power. On avoiding applying urban solutions to rural problems, Mr Roy gave example of successful rainwater harvesting in hills of Sikkim instead of first taking river water up the hill to then let it run down to villages. He also argued that the mindset of social work institutions needs to adapt to the slow speed of villages and not expect instant transformation.

AIMA’s Foundation Day celebration was streamed on social media also and more than 5000 people joined to watch the live proceedings online.