News & Stories

At Launch of New Center on India, Speakers See Many Opportunities

Posted Oct 07 2015

More than 200 dignitaries, scholars, and guests joined SIPA for the launch of the Deepak and Neera Raj Center on Indian Economic Policies on October 5. The celebration at Low Library recognized Deepak and Neera Raj and other individuals who supported the new center’s creation. It also provided a forum for discussion of current economic opportunities and challenges facing India.

Among the government officials on hand were Arun Jaitley, India’s minister of finance, corporate affairs, and information and broadcasting, who gave keynote remarks, and Arun Kumar Singh, India’s ambassador to the United States, who also addressed the gathering. Also attending was Dnyaeshwar Mulay, India’s consul general in New York.

Dean Merit Janow of SIPA welcomed the audience, noting the connections between the United States and India and the opportunities that the Raj Center will create for students, academics, scholars, and practitioners.

“It will be a locus of tremendous engagement around the Indian economy,” she said.

Deepak Raj, who is managing director of the private investment firms Rush Brook Partners and Raj Associates, was joined at the podium by his wife, Neera Raj.

“We hope that this center will lead to real, tangible, and measurable progress,” Deepak Raj said. “We hope the center will be part of this effort to put India on the sustainable growth path.”

Jagdish Bhagwati, a University Professor who will direct the new center, said he envisioned many opportunities for the center to make a difference.

“Our center is aimed at creating real scholarship and can provide real solutions,” he said.

Singh, the ambassador, suggested that “the Raj Center can shape the narrative and move the relationship [between the United States and India] forward.”

Elaborating upon ties—particularly economic ties—between the United States and India, Singh noted, for example, that trade between the two nations has increased fivefold, that investment flow has increased in both directions, and that Indian companies currently have $15 billion invested in the United States.

The United States is also, Singh noted, home to more than 3 million immigrants and native-born Americans of Indian descent. One of seven patients will be seen by an Indian doctor. Indians pay $3 billion annually to the United States in college-tuition fees.

These points underscore why there is a growing interest in India, Singh said.

Jaitley, the finance minister, spoke candidly about India’s economic history: “We have a track record of having great opportunities and then squandering them.”

But while expectations are rising, Jaitley said he is optimistic that India can survive and prosper in a sometimes volatile climate.

India will not be satisfied by growth of 6 to 8 percent, Jaitley added, suggesting the nation’s economy could do better than the 7.3 percent growth it experienced in 2014-15. Factors such as inflation, fiscal deficit, exchange reserves, and fiscal prudence as being kept under control.

Jaitley also said India had implemented reforms to make it easier to do business, and that the concept of “competitive federalism” now encourages India’s states to use competition to make improvements that will attract investors.

“I can say comfortably that a change in the governance structure, at least in the central government, has come about.”

The minister also took time to respond to student questions, addressing matters including solar energy and recent international trade agreements.

As part of the ceremony, three University faculty members were recognized for their scholarship. They are art historian Vidya Dehejia, Barbara Stoler Miller Professor of Indian and South Asian Art in the Department of Art History and Archaeology; engineer Ponisseril Somasundaran, the LaVon Duddleson Krumb Professor of Mineral Engineering; and economist Arvind Panagariya, the Jagdish Bhagwati Professor of Indian Political Economy.

Panagariya, who is currently on leave to serve in the cabinet of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, led efforts to establish the Center, but was not able to attend the celebration.

— Kristen Grennan MPA ’16 

Pictured (from left): Arun Jaitley, Jagdish Bhagwati

Arun Jaitley and Arun Kumar attend launch of Deepak and Neerja Raj Center on Indian Economic Policies