“Funding” key to realizing the Digital India dream, say Global Experts
New Delhi, India, February 12, 2015: New Call Telecom Ltd., one of the fastest growing residential telecom service providers in the UK with a growing presence in India brought together global industry experts to discuss the challenges plaguing the telecom and technology industry in realizing the Digital India dream. The event held in New Delhi on February 4 saw Dr. Jerome Booth, Leading Economist, Investor and Chairman – New Call Telecom, Masaki Takanayagi, CEO, SBI Ven Capital, Percy Bilimoria, Senior Partner, AZB Partners and Nigel Eastwood, CEO, New Call Telecom in a panel discussion sharing their views and suggestions on how the Digital India dream can be realized at the earliest. The event saw a gathering of top executives from the telecom, technology and financial companies in India.
The expert on emerging markets, Dr. Jerome Booth said “India has very large growth potential, huge untapped demand and there is consumption-driven growth. It’s the perfect place to invest long term. These days, foreign investing is not just about the short-term financial investment. It’s about being a part of a transformational experience – on both sides. What all growing economies do need, and I think foreign investors can provide, is a different point of view, a global perspective. New perspectives, combined with local intelligence, generate new ideas and new innovations. Foreign involvement in large-scale projects ensures that the project is designed and implemented using up-to-date thinking and proven solutions. We are looking at strategic acquisitions to enable New Call Telecom to make strong organic growth in the fast growing Indian telecom market and establish a pan-India presence.”
According to Nigel Eastwood, CEO of New Call Telecom, “I see India as a digital trailblazer, moving faster, and adopting new tailor-made technologies faster, than any other country in the region – lighting the way for all other emerging markets. But India must get its technology right first time. The needs of people living in India are very different to those in the West and therefore it needs solutions that are properly adapted to the country. This is precisely the reason why we have invested in Indian companies. India has her own home-grown talent; large numbers of highly educated, innovative people with top-class technology skills who can power this revolution from the inside. At New Call Telecom, we’re tapping into this domestic research and development talent through our superb team in Gurgaon, India. They’re highly experienced marketers committed to overcoming the root problems in Indian telecoms and in doing so creating new revenue streams for our growing platform – and, of course, for India.”
Commenting on the financial scenario, Masaki Takayanagi, CEO, SBI Ven Capital said, “When emerging countries are on a growth path, the financial sector in these counties will tend to grow at a faster rate than the overall economy. Investing in India is highly attractive as the tech and telecom industry here is vibrant, innovative and fast-growing. We plan to make further investments in the convergence of finance and technology as there is a lot of potential in finance and technology. There is a huge unspent demand for digital among consumers and businesses in India and there is a huge potential to invest in applications that make managing money and making financial transactions easier, including apps such as mobile wallets, e-payments as well as other e-commerce related apps.”
According to Percy Bilimoria, Senior Partner, AZB& Partners said “ While the FIPB is doing an incrementally better job, it’s time to move to a ‘’negative list’ regime. This will mean a short list of sectors where FDI is either not welcome or else is subject to conditions. This will enable transparency and take away any residual anomalies in the approval process.”
