(This story originally appeared in on Jan 30, 2016)

NEW DELHI: In this tough world, can India make it? This was the question put to a panel of highpowered global and Indian CEOs at the inaugural session of the Airtel-Economic Times Global Business Summit. The answer was surprisingly upbeat from all, but more robustly so from those who view India from the outside, in relation to the rest of the global economy , than from their Indian counterparts.The time is ripe for India to step up investment in infrastructure and improve ease of doing business and the result would be remarkable growth. And much of this depends on executive action, rather than legislative changes.In fact, so little premium did the assembled CEOs put on fresh laws that some of them, led by Sunil Mittal , expressed the view that most of the needed reforms are already in place and action by the government and India Inc is what is required to realise the growth potential the entire world sees in India.Present on stage were Sunil Mittal, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Anil Agarwal and Uday Kotak , along with McKinsey Global CEO Dominic Barton, GSK Global CEO Andrew Philip Witty, PwC International Chairman Dennis M Nally, GE Vice-Chairman John Rice and US Exim Bank Chairman and President Fred P Hochberg.Economic Times Associate Editor Anand Mahadevan, who moderated the discussion, set the context by first asking Dennis Nally about the findings of the latest edition of PwC’s survey of global CEOs. Nally said while 27% of the respondents expected the world economy to worsen, Indian CEOs were far more optimistic.While this definitely is a positive, he drew attention to a sobering finding of the survey: despite all the positive vibes about India being the fastest-growing large economy, huge emerging middle class and a young, energetic workforce, India ranked only number five as these CEOs’ preference as an investment destination.He stressed the need for India to improve ease of doing business. Kumar Birla rated the demographic dividend as the biggest positive for India, that was endorsed by Sunil Mittal later. Birla ticked off the other positives: macroeconomic fundamentals were healthy, the rupee was relatively stable, inflation had halved from the double digits of a year ago, financial inclusion was becoming a reality.Uday Kotak counted low oil and commodity prices, low inflation, the low current account deficit and low interest rates around the world as enabling factors for a spurt in infrastructure creation in India. He thought that needless despondency among Indian industrialists were a bigger problem than any external threat to India’s growth. But he did sound an important warning: don’t binge on debt, a point that the audience registered volubly.Vedanta chief Anil Agarwal would be expected to be chastened by the global trend of weak commodity prices, but he remained ebullient as ever, seeing in these low prices and low interest rates a great opportunity to build Indian infrastructure.He wanted India to meet at least 50% of its energy needs from domestic sources, and step up manufacturing in areas of surging demand, such as electronics. Channel savings into infrastructure, he urged, and wanted, to this end, the normal EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) mandate to be expanded to add finance, and become EPCF.No country is investing enough in infrastructure, said Hochberg. But the US Exim Bank has financed more infrastructure projects in India than anywhere else in the recent past, he attested. Of course, China does not need external financing for its infrastructure building. He was particularly hopeful about energy, solar and nuclear.Barton saw in the excitement large pension funds, such as from Canada, are showing about India, a positive message about long-term financing possibilities. Rice expected oil and commodity prices to stay low. Witty stressed the need for and possibility of innovation to produce low-cost solutions in India for people in India and around the world who cannot afford high prices.When asked about what he wants from the forthcoming Budget, Birla did not dither: stepped-up infrastructure investment, lower corporate tax rates and simplification of rules and regulations. This emphasis on improving ease of doing business and utilising the current global conditions to build vital infrastructure captured the consensus of global and Indian CEOs on what India’s current priority should be.