AV: What ambitions did you have when you did your first degree, what area did you feel you would go into?
SS: “While doing my first degree in international business at the Smith School of Business at University of Maryland, I was drawn to the cultural aspects of international marketing and branding strategies since I’ve always been a rather creative person. I then pursued a Masters’ in Public Policy and quickly realized the limitless potential of leveraging international business to fuel socio-economic development. Of course, at the time, I wasn’t too sure of where these paths would lead. And somehow, when I started my career at in the International Division of the Confederation of Indian Industry, business, policy and creativity came together!”
AV: What do you find re the US business world and India? What areas did you go into in your work in Washington?
SS: “Business ties between US and India have been at the core of the larger bilateral relationship. While issues remain to be resolved, two-way trade has touched $100 billion, US investments in India have grown at a consistent pace and India has emerged among the fastest growing investors in the US economy. CII’s work at the US office has been very multi-faceted, ranging from collaborations in agriculture to defence, green-build infrastructure to financing, and business ethics to women’s empowerment.”
AV: What do you intend to address re your CII work in London?
SS: “I’m currently reviewing our strategy of engagement for CII’s work in the whole of United Kingdom, not just in London. And actually, that’s exactly the point.
Indian companies have quite a strong presence in and around London – and we will continue to focus our attention in this financial megahub and the multicultural business hotpot – but we will simultaneously work on a sub-national engagement strategy, helping Indian companies explore all regions of England, as well as Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. We’re launching an initiative called “RoadtripUK” where we will travel with CII’s India Business Forum members around UK and interact with the business and academic community to build collaborative partnerships.
Similarly, since CII works very closely at the State-level in India, we will assist State governments and their business delegations make business connections here and explore the larger UK hinterland.
Our approach will be to focus on sectors of high potential. We already play a strong role leading a working group on Advanced Manufacturing and Technology under the aegis of the official India-UK Joint Economic and Trade Committee dialogue. We will further build linkages in other opportunities such as financial services, smart cities, infrastructure, and skills development. In addition, we will also start to look at emerging sectors of collaboration like the creative industries, sports, water etc.
Strategically, we will also look at the India-UK relationship in the context of the Commonwealth and how we can have an impact there. The larger India-EU relationship is also very important to businesses in UK, so that would be another strand of our work.”
AV: What changes and importance can CII make and have in the India-UK economic landscape?
SS: “CII represents the power of Indian business. We have membership of the largest corporates that fuel India Inc. and drive its nearly $2 trillion economy. At the same time, we also represent the smaller and mid-scale companies that are increasingly becoming more global in their outlook.
We can help these companies drive up their global competitiveness, strategically look at international markets, export to UK, invest in UK, while maintaining world-class quality. We need to build international linkages with UK institutions that can help in delivering such capacity building and training.
In India, we have the largest network with government bodies and local businesses through our 65 offices and Centres of Excellence around the country.
Because we know India well, we can also help British companies look at investment opportunities in India.”
AV: What are you doing, if you’re not working?
SS: “You would probably catch me with my vintage camera looking for the highest vantage point to get a good shot of London, or hunting for the best veggie fare in the city! I also love traveling - exploring the expanse of the world’s national forests and sandy beaches by the warm ocean - so every chance I will get, I will escape to the tropics!”
