The newly constituted Board of Trustees of the India Brand Equity Foundation(IBEF) held an interactive session with the Commerce & Industry Minister Kamal Nath on May 10th 2005 in New Delhi.

“IBEF is an idea whose time has come…we have to convert global interest into global engagement” said the Minister during his opening remarks at the meeting. The challenge for IBEF now is to portray the “New India”and the Minister was keen that the CII and the Ministry of Commerce as well as the Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Tourism work much more closely to further build on the IBEF’s work which is a model of public-private partnership.

Mr. Kamal Nath said that IBEF should “own” visiting senior policy makers and decision makers, and their accompanying delegations regularly received by India, to ensure a consistent and positive “Brand India” experience. He also indicated the importance of “Out –of- the- box” thinking and invited suggestions from the Board on what new could be done by IBEF to “project the India of the next ten years”. Stressing on the fact that India is an “old civilization but a young country”, the Minister said that “India is a systems and methods driven country and not individual driven”.

The Minister said, challenging IBEF, “India has arrived and is on the radar screen…now what?” Complimenting the IBEF management team provided by CII for its performance, he said that IBEF should strive for newer, higher goals. In reference to IBEF’s Brand Ambassador’s programme, he stated that the best ambassadors are individuals who are strong champions of India and those who are part of the India growth story.

Commending the Ministry of External Affairs and its officers, he spoke of some exceptional overseas experiences made possible due to the fine work by the Foreign Service in assembling the local business and media community that resulted in a fruitful and meaningful dialogue. In this context, he encouraged the IBEF to work closely with the network of Indian embassies and missions around the world, which serve as an ideal outreach arm for the India Resource Centre developed by the IBEF.

The Minister appreciated the progress made by IBEF in building the India Resource Centre, www.ibef.org, and placed two new priorities for further development – ease of use and translation into new languages to better serve non-English speaking global markets. The Minister also encouraged IBEF to follow changes in FDI policy closely and keep itself “investor-ready” for soon-to-be-opened sectors.

Mr. Nath also invited the participating members to suggest new ideas for the IBEF Management team to build on. Mr. S N Menon, Commerce Secretary and Chairman, IBEF endorsed an earlier suggestion of forming smaller task forces to take the Minister’s ideas forward to ensure efficient and timely delivery. Mr Ashok Jha, Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), suggested that IBEF should focus on mid-sized companies and go beyond the Fortune 500. Mr. Rajiv Sikri, Secretary (East), MEA suggested that IBEF be used as a “chapeau” to creatively express the idea of India in multiple ways. Mr. A K Misra, Secretary, Tourism said that “ Incredible India” campaign needs to work closely with IBEF. Mr S K Munjal, President, CII and Mr. N Srinivasan, Director General, CII also participated in the interactive session alongwith the several board members .

The new Board of Trustees of IBEF are from across industry, government, media and academia. The new board members are Mr. S N Menon, Commerce Secretary and Chairman of the IBEF Board; Mr. Rajiv Sikri, Secretary (East), Ministry of External Affairs; Mr. AK Misra, Secretary, Tourism; Mr. Krishna Kumar, Director, Tata Sons; Dr. Naresh Trehan, Executive Director, Escorts Heart Research Institute; Mr. Suhel Seth, CEO, Equus Advertising; Mr. Darshan Singh, Director, Pan India; Mr. Chetan Seth, Managing Director, Raas Intratech; Mr. Salil Chaturvedi, Managing Director, Provogue; Ms. Kavita Bhartia, Director, Ogaan; Ms. Gitanjali Kirloskar, Chairperson, India Japan Initiative from Kirloskar; Ms. Simran Bedi, Director, Corporate Communications, Media Trans Asia. The CEO of IBEF is Mr. Ajay Khanna, Dy Director General, CII.