Liberalised global economy is a lion...India must plan its progress with care: Swami Vigyananand

Spearheading a global Hindu movement to uplift local entrepreneurs and talent in wealth creation, Swami Vigyananand warns India must plan its progress with indigenous care. "The liberalised global economy is like a lion and if one isn't careful, it can swallow you if you make small mistakes," he says. A bachelor in engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Vigyananand tells Manju AB about the seven broad goals of the 7th annual World Hindu Economic Forum (WHEF), being held in Mumbai for the first time after finding foot in London, Chicago, Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Nairobi. The 3-day event, which will conclude on Sunday, is discussing the need to protect and nurture entrepreneurship to make India a $5 trillion economy. It is attracting captains of top companies, economists and bankers to share views. Excerpts from an interview.

This is the first time the World Hindu Economic Forum is coming to Mumbai. What is its main goal?

We have seven main objectives. Through this forum, we want to build a global market access. When markets get saturated we have to look for new opportunities elsewhere. The entrepreneurs from the Hindu community should get better market access, affordable capital and effective technology. While in India, companies are dependent on the banks for sourcing capital, in other countries there is plenty of affordable capital like angel funds, distress funds, growth funds and private equity. They are not tied down by bank funds. Banks show you the umbrella when it is not raining and when it actually rains and you are in trouble, they will withdraw it.

Besides capital what is critical for Hindu entrepreneurs?

The adoption of technology is very important. And this technology should be affordable and accessible. Our talent is not getting utilised. Many of our talented hands go overseas and work for companies to enrich their balance sheets. This talent should be tapped by Indian companies so that there is no brain drain. Graduates from IITs go overseas and work for other countries. We need to find a means to retain our talent and develop our local companies so that wealth creation is accelerated.

You often talk of young entrepreneurs?

Yes, this set of young entrepreneurs is also our focus. They need guidance on businesses and on how to build scale. So we work with them to fulfill their objectives by giving thrust to technology and affordable capital. Bharat in a globalised environment has to be cautious and prepared to face competition. We help young entrepreneurs build tech savvy firms with affordable capital.

You also talk about 4th industrial revolution. What exactly you mean?

We will have the fourth industrial revolution where we will specify industries and give them specific training, particularly to the small and medium enterprises that need our support. The Hindu community has been working all over the world but as islands of excellence. We are trying to bring all this talent the community has on a common global platform so that it creates greater wealth by focusing on higher employment generation. It also benefits everyone in the community. The platform will give us greater market access. Agriculture should be made respectable and profitable. The tourism and hospitality industry could be strengthened to create more employment.

What are the other areas of the economy that needs attention?

The start-ups and e-commerce businesses are the important segments for wealth creation and employment generation. They should be encouraged. The infrastructure and the real estate segment is another area we need to focus on, considering it is a big employment generator.