On day 1 of VALUEx India 2011, the group heard from Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwalla. Dr. Jhunjhunwalla is a professor at the world renowned Indian Institute for Technology (IIT) and is a leading authority and speaker on the subject of rural business opportunities in emerging India.

During his presentation, Dr. Jhunjhunwalla challenged participants to take a local view towards the Indian economy. Dr. Jhunjhunwalla discussed ways to make growth more inclusive and leveraging not only the consumption power, but also the production and manufacturing potential of rural.

Stressing the need to redefine development, and not accept the western Industrial Revolution Development paradigm, Dr. Jhunjhunwalla detailed key challenges in Indian governance, equality in quality of education. The key takeaway was that there is tremendous opportunity with its fair share of challenges in India, and specifically rural India. Additionally, Dr. Jhunjhunwalla stressed that one cannot project the growth and development model of western nations onto India. The model has to be specific to India and address the challenges that India faces.

Presentation by Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala at the first annual VALUEx India.