Presentation by Ramesh Damani at the first annual VALUEx 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.

You can click on a photo to enlarge or to start a slideshow. You can also see all of our photos on Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/69923106@N04/. We plan to have videos available soon.

The following photos in this post are from various days and events of the conference including speakers and participant sharing.

Here are a few of the comments from participants:

from Hemant Amin of Asianmin Capital PTE LTD…

“VALUEx in India was a success for me due to the following:

1. Gained valuable insights from titans of the Indian financial markets like Mr Bhansali.
2. Insights from fellow attendees carry weight as the underlying theme is value investing.
3. Helps reconnect with the value investing community from around the world – renewing old friendships and making new friends.
4. Gained on the ground insights into the M&A scene in India from dynamic speakers like Ambit finance CEO.
5. Understood what fellow attendees had on their minds in terms of investing and insights through the 5 minute presentation sessions for each attendee.

In short, a well organised value investing event bringing together like minded investors from around the world, in an atmosphere of learning and sharing in the spirit of Warren Buffett & Charlie Munger. When is the next one?”

from Klaus Gummerer of DELMO…

“At ValueX India I had the opportunity to meet and interact with first class investors from all around the world and especially from India. The combination of speakers from the investment side and business people made this event very informative. Thanks again for the great experience”

from Carter Venkat…

“Most people assume that value investing is not practiced in emerging markets; that almost all emerging markets investors are “story” investors who do not do fundamental research. While it may be true that value investing is practiced by fewer people who are emerging markets investors, there is a larger community of value investors in India than I originally thought. However, due to the various issues such as more concentrated shareholding, lower levels of transparency, etc. management and company due diligence is even more important in markets like India.

Also, because of the promoter owned structure, it is difficult to practice the more activist forms of investing such as forcing management changes or unlocking balance sheet values. However, the fundamental concepts of buying good companies run by honest and competent managers at attractive prices works over the long term in markets like India. I am happy to have discovered that the community of people who do this in India is larger than I imagined.”

from Sidd Mehta-Thomas of Beaconsfield…

“The conference was thoroughly enjoyable as I got to interact with like minded individuals who shared a passion for value investing. Also, the roster of speakers was excellent, from Vallabh Bhansali to Chetan Parikh, you would be hard pressed to find a better line up in India”

We will go around the room alphabetically based on last names. Each participant will be given 5 minutes to speak. Similar to the TEDx conference model,  the 5 minute limit is firm. At TEDx, anyone who goes over their time limit is abruptly cut-off. No slides or handouts are necessary. Participants can either sit/stand in their places and speak or come up to the front and speak based on their level of comfort.

We recommend that you spend some time upfront, introducing yourself, where you come from and what you do.  The remaining time should be spent to give a concise and useful thought or idea to the group.  The thought or idea does not have to be India specific. It does not even have to do anything directly related to investing.

Examples of things you could talk about (this is not an exhaustive list by any means):

• A stock idea, listed anywhere in the world.  Please tell us what the idea is, what the metrics are and your investment thesis/expectations
• A unique insight about a particular country or market
• A macro-economic thought or insight
• A concern or worry that is top of mind for you.  Please explain why it is significant
• A prudent or healthy investment practice (example checklists). Please explain with examples
• A behaviorial insight
• An experience or anecdote (for example, one person at VALUEx Zurich spoke about the importance of good investor letters/communication for fund managers)
• Almost anything else that you think might be useful to the group

We are really excited about this section of the conference and think it is likely to be one of the most valuable aspects of the entire VALUEx India conference.