India on inevitable journey to be an economic superpower: Gautam Adani

CA. (Dr.) Debashis Mitra, President, ICAI presenting a memento to Shri Gautam Adani, Chairman, Adani Group in presence of CA. Aniket S. Talati, Vice-President, ICAI at 21st World Congress of Accountants in Mumbai

Gautam Adani highlights the accelerating growth of India towards becoming an economic super power at the World Congress of Accountants 2022

Adani anticipates India on the track to be a 30 trillion-dollar economy by 2050

The morning of Day 2 of the 21st World Congress of Accountants (WCOA) was initiated on a fresh and impressive note with Swami Ramdev who spoke about physical sustainability of the health and wellbeing of one’s self through the forum of Yoga and Ayurveda, India’s gift to global health. He demonstrated how one can physically live a sustainable life and presented the face and benefits of yoga by performing many different asanas on stage for various ailments of the body which inspired the entire audience to join him.

The sessions at WCOA moved on a vocational lecture with CA.(Dr.) V. G. Narayan, Professor at Harvard Business School on the future of the accountancy profession and its evolution which will shape the emerging future environment “The youngsters today are looking for companies which have businesses related to the environment therefore there are large opportunities in the ESG space, one of the biggest problems faced by humanity is the climate crisis, renewable energy is important but carbon emissions everywhere have to be a focus. To overcome this we need to create standards, we need to train the auditors, we need to train the preparers because we need better written and reliable ESG reports.”

CA. (Dr.) Debasish Mitra, President, ICAI, welcomed Mr. Gautam Adani, Chairperson of Adani Group and said, "Insights and experiences of all the speakers will surely guide us to approach the future of accountancy with more transparency and global awareness."

The economy of India is the world’s fifth-largest economy, now behind only the US, China, Japan, and Germany. Highlighting India’s potential and its path towards becoming an economic superpower, Gautam Adani, Chairperson of Adani Group says “This emerging multipolar world – superpowers will need to be those that take responsibility to step in and help others in a crisis and not bully other nations into submission. A superpower must also be a thriving democracy, a nation willing to share its technology to enable social development to address the universal challenges in education, healthcare, and skill development. It is in such a multipolar world that the foundations of India’s increasing economic might, coupled with its culture and beliefs, become relevant as it takes its journey to becoming an economic superpower that combines monetary growth with vast social growth – all within the bounds of a democratic society.”

Mr. Adani further elaborates and talks about how he sees India in the upcoming decades, breaking down his vision in three dimensions. First dimension will cover the nation’s demographic dividend which will drive consumption and accelerate the growth of a tax paying society, second dimension is the pace of entrepreneurship and unicorn creation in India and the third dimension highlights the potential of the energy transition space. Therefore, he states that the growth numbers for India will be greater than for any other nation between today and 2050 - a nominal dollar-based GDP narrative still does not paint the real potential of India.

Diving into the mode of sustainability he further elaborates on the third dimension by saying “A powerful transformation lever for India is in the space of energy transition, the gap in energy poverty will mostly be filled with renewable energy. The combination of solar and wind power coupled with green hydrogen opens unprecedented possibilities for India. By 2050, India can become a net green-energy exporter. Cooling the planet down will be one of the most profitable businesses and the largest of job creators over the next several decades. That is why over the next decade, Adani Group, will make a massive investment of 70 billion dollars in this space and build the world’s most integrated renewable energy value chain.”

CA. Aniket S. Talati, Vice president, ICAI, thanked Mr. Adani for his address and presence at the WCOA and concluded this session reiterating his glorious words “If there ever were a time to be Indian, be in India, and associate with India - it is now.”

The Day 2 events were followed by a plenary session on ‘Accountancy Profession: Partner in nation building’. The panel discussion was joined by Mr. Girish Chandra Murmu, the Hon’ble comptroller and auditor general of India and Dr. Ajay Bhushan Prasad Pandey, the Chairman of the National Financial Reporting of India (NFRA). They appreciated the scale of the event and recognised the role of accountants at large.

About World Congress of Accountants

The WCOA is held once every four years and is popularly known as the "Olympics of Accountancy Profession". It is one of the most prestigious global events for Professional Accountants that is organized under the aegis of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), the global organization for the accountancy profession. It is a matter of great pride not only for the accounting profession in India but also for the entire country, as the World Congress is happening in India for the first time in 118 years of its existence on the theme “Building Trust Enabling Sustainability”

The 4 - Day event will have 35+ insightful sessions addressed by a galaxy of speakers like:

• CA. Piyush Goyal, Hon’ble Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution and Textiles
• Dr. Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad, Hon’ble Minister of State for Finance
• Shri Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra
• Shri Girish Chandra Murmu, Comptroller & Auditor General of India
• Shri Kesavan Srinivasan, Deputy C&AG and Chairman of the Government Accounting Standards Advisory Board
• CA. Suresh Prabhu, Former Union Minister
• Padma Shri Mr. Bharat Goenka, Co-founder and Vice Chairperson, Tally Solutions
• Shri Injeti Srinivas, Chairman, IFSCA (International Financial Services Centres Authority)
• Shri Sanjeev Sanyal, Member, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister
• Shri Harish Salve, Former Solicitor General of India
• Shri Gautam Adani, Chairman, Adani Group
• Shri Mukesh Ambani, Chairman & MD, Reliance Industries Ltd.
• Mr. Dinesh Khara, Chairman, State Bank of India
• Mr. Deepak Parekh, Chairman, Housing Development Finance Corporation Mumbai
• CA. Dilip B. Desai, Founder & Chairman, DHC International
• Shri Sanjeev Mehta, CEO & MD, HUL
• Shri Hitendra Dave, CEO, HSBC India
• Shri Sridhar Vembu, CEO, Zoho Corporation
• Mr. Anupam Kher, Indian Film Actor
• Yogrishi Swami Ramdev, Eminent Yoga Guru & Founder, Patanjali Ayurved Limited
• CA. Sunil H. Talati, Chairman, Services Export Promotion Council
• Mr. Deepak Bagla, MD & CEO, Invest India
• Mr. Saud Salim Al Mazrouei, Director, Hamriyah Free Zone Authority, UAE
• CA. V. G. Narayanan, Professor, Harvard Business School
• Mr. Alan Johnson, President, IFAC (International Federation of Accountants)
• Mr. Ian Carruthers, Chair, International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB)
• Mr. Tom Seidenstein, Chair, International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB)
• Ms. Gabriela Figueiredo Dias, Chair, International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA)