Buoyed by the upward revisions in growth projections for the economy, the captains of Indian industry on Monday called for strongly marketing the 'Brand India' while exuding confidence in the country's emergence as a major economic power in near future.
"India has the potential to become a major economic power in coming decades. What we need to achieve the goal is clear vision, values and vitality of the Indian industry," Y C Deveshwar, chairman of ITC Ltd, said in Kolkata.
Addressing the 'Strategy Summit', organised by the ICFAI Business School, Deveshwar said besides exploring the global marts, the Indian industry needs to reach out to the huge untapped market in rural India.
"There is a huge market left untapped in rural sector. The Indian companies do not reach upto the villages having a population of less than 5000. But 85 per cent of Indian villages fall in that category," he said.
In this context, he said, ITC has launched village choupals to tap this market and empower the farm sector.
Tata Steel managing director B Muthuraman said the industry, particularly the steel sector, needed to capitalise on the cost advantage to become more competitive in the global market.
Bullish on the growth projections, Patton Industries managing director and chairman of CII (eastern region) Sanjay Budhia said: "India's economic growth is making news in global market. With its cost advantage and intellectual resources, India is set to become an acknowledged economic power soon."
Referring to the upward revision in growth projections by CMIE to 8.2 per cent for the current fiscal as also by the World Bank, Budhia called for concerted effort to market the 'Brand India' in global marts.
Echoing his views, The Pioneer managing director and editor Chandan Mitra, MP, said the recent success stories in IT, pharmaceuticals and other sectors came in a disjoint manner.
"Now its time for the industry, government and other sectors to work towards building a strong brand for the country as a whole, so that India can become a developed nation by the next two decades," he said.
Bhaskar Bhat, managing director of Titan Industries, said the success story of the company, which stressed on building its brand image rather than outdoing the competitors, could be a role model for others.
"Depending much on the cost advantages alone may not be sufficient to achieve success in the long term. But a strong branding both for any industry or country, will ensure that," he added.