When India gained the status of an independent nation 73 years ago, the country found itself as a technology infant immersed in poverty. The journey of India evolving from an impoverished third world country to an emerging global superpower has not been a smooth one. Even today, as the country stands on the brink of entering a new revolutionary era, issues like widespread poverty, inadequate infrastructure, slow rate of capital formation and job creation for a population of 1.3 billion people are still holding back what otherwise is, one of the fastest growing economies of the world. Unless India frees itself from this vicious cycle it is in, emerging victorious in the upcoming era will be difficult. This raises the following questions: How should it manage its economy in a global environment of unstable and turbulent economies? How will it facilitate organizations to cross the chasm from being just businesses to harnessing the true potential of an innovative corporate structure, strong governance and varied culture? How should it leverage technology to reach and maintain an advantageous position over other countries?

Coming to India, it has truly harnessed the power of emerging technologies. As the country with the largest population, technology is helping ignite the entrepreneurial spirit in people. Each day brings an innovative solution to problems that are being offered with minimum hassle online. Industries like Healthcare, Agriculture, E-Commerce, and Retail have accelerated by leaps and bounds to revolutionize the way we live. According to NASSCOM, India’s tech revenue is expected to achieve 8.4% year-on-year growth in 2023. The focus shall be on Quality Talent, implying that a lot of effort and investment shall be made in upskilling the workforce with emerging technologies and also utilizing them for innovation. However, the progress in technology has also led to a saturation phase in India and the world at large. People are relying heavily on tools like ChatGPT and Tome app to consolidate information, causing a lack of creativity. A certain point is reached wherein people do not think for themselves, but rather use these tools to find quicker options. It must be brought to attention that these tools are only to simplify the process, not to replace human intellect and variety. Through the panel “Technological Supremacy: Navigating Industry 4.0”, we shall gain better insights into the most revenue-generating segment of the Indian Economy.

In light of globalization, the education system changed its models and incorporated Western concepts and ideas to upskill the educated youth. However, what was not divulged is that these Big Tech companies were here to establish their back-end bases. The Indian labor industry was comparatively cheaper but much more skilled. This encouraged these companies to utilize the skills of the educated youth at very cheap salaries. The investment one would be putting into becoming a top-class engineer needed to be more equitable to the rate of return. A large number of skilled youth were employed as call center workers, content moderators for social media giants, and even customer service handlers of Western clients. This led to a major brain drain. But, the right to ownership did not exist. As a result, a huge outflow of highly skilled Indian engineers and IT professionals began to the west where they believed they could be a part of the client roles and maximize their potential. However, the impact it had on India was negative. Now, with a decrease in skilled youth to handle backend operations, these Big Tech companies started negotiating lower salaries for new entrants. The impact that reduction of salaries in one of the largest sectors of the country had a greatly negative impact on the value that was contributed to the Indian economy. This cycle has continued for a long time and now is the time to look for alternatives to end this brain drain. The level of excellence that the Indian youth was capable of achieving was being highly undervalued and that had an impact on their work satisfaction. The high rate of attrition that was caused due to the brain drain of the Indian IT sector, led to emigration and majorly affected the HR structures of enterprises. In response to the same, many companies felt the need to re-strategize in order to retain employees and lower the presently high employee turnover. The potential that India possesses in terms of IT and engineering is massive. With support, Indian youth can make some excellent breakthroughs and open up a sea of opportunities for future generations, boosting India’s economic position. In the panel, “The Indian Brain Drain: Overcoming Digital Colonization”, we wish to unravel different strategies that can be implemented to neutralize digital imperialism and claim ownership over the rightful contribution to pathbreaking technologies that India has created.

The service industry along with the manufacturing industry witnessed major liberalization reforms post-1990s. These reforms stimulated significant progress in the performance of the service sector in India. It helped in bolstering foreign as well as domestic competition along with enhanced regulatory directives. Removal of barriers attracted the FDI influx into services that led to an increasingly competitive ecosystem with access to more diversified and reliable services for Indian consumers. The Indian services sector was the largest recipient of FDI inflows worth US$ 96.76 billion between April 2000 and June 2022, according to the India brand equity foundation. Today more than ever the Indian services industry is supported by various government initiatives, policies, and incentives. For example- the PLI Schemes to boost production in the telecom segment will greatly aid the telecom industry's growth. The government is keen to boost necessary services and has exempted the health and education services sector from GST. This proves the importance of the service industry in terms of providing basic and vital services to consumers along with employment generation. Due to its pertinence, the service sector performance is also used as an indicator of national economic growth. Despite its dominance, services are facing industry-specific challenges in this era of rapid and volatile developments. They face problems related to customer retention, talent acquisition, resource management, post covid work culture shift, and more. Despite the friction faced, the service industry is bound to grow at a rapid pace. In this panel, “The Service Sector Landscape: Challenges and Opportunities”, we might wonder about the trends like the emergence of AI and complete automation, remotely handled operations, geopolitics, and globalization leading to strategic repositioning in the service industry for the future.