CII Communique November 2012

Rural DevelopmentRural Services - The Next Growth EnablerProf Abhijit Sen, Member, Planning Commission of India; Sanjay K Panigrahi, CEO, SREI Sahaj e-Village Ltd; S Vijay Kumar, Secretary, UnionMinistry of Rural Development; Subodh Bhargava, Past President, CII, Chairman, CII National Council on Development Initiatives, and Chairman, TataCommunications Ltd. and Indrani Kar, Deputy Director General, CII, at the inaugural session of the National Rural Development Summit in New DelhiRecognizing the importance of mainstreamingthe rural economy into the country’s overallgrowth strategy, CII’s 4th National RuralDevelopment Summit, looked at ‘Rural Services-TheNext Enabler.’ Like previous summits, this edition, heldin New Delhi on 17-18 October, focused attention onthe opportunities the rural sector presents with itspopulation of 800 million, who are, in the near future,expected to have an economic worth of close to US $425 billion. Five years from now, the spending power ofrural India will exceed that of urban India. CII thereforeis fully cognizant of the fact that empowerment of thissection of the population is pivotal to any nationalgrowth strategy.The Services sector has great employment andincome generation potential, and has traditionallybeen associated with boosting GDP. Typically, indeveloped societies, the greatest benefits accruefrom the Services sector, but so far, in India, despiterural India’s growing economic clout, with the ruraleconomy out-pacing the urban economy in the recentpast, the Rural Services sector has not shown muchgrowth. This Summit, the first initiative by CII in theRural Sector, focused on Services as an untappedsector with a huge opportunity for businesses, foremployment creation and income generation, in ruralIndia.Engaging all stakeholders, the Summit was an endeavorto create greater awareness of the need to unlockthe growth potential that will take place through thedevelopment of the Services Sector in rural India throughfacilitating corporate partnerships and promoting inclusiveinnovations to take the country forward on a acceleratedgrowth trajectory.Some of the potential sectors in the rural service spaceidentified during the two-day deliberations includedagri-businesses – linking of farm to fork, crop extensionfinance, healthcare, education, ICTE, etc, with a focuson the skill requirements and employment opportunitiesof the youth in rural India.Professor Abhijit Sen, Member, Planning Commissionof India, who was the Chief Guest at the Summit, saidthat it was important to take note of the changes thathave occurred in the last ten years. These includedincreased connectivity both through improved roads, andthe spread of cell phones across India. Other importantparameters were higher enrolment in, and also an increasein the number of students who have completed schooleducation. These developments have in some measure,changed the face of ‘rural’ India, he observed.Communiqué November 2012 | 39