Prof C K Prahalad’s Bust Unveiled at CII Southern Region Headquarters
“Prof C K Prahalad was and will be a guiding force for industry and people of our country. It is time for us to celebrate his contributions and recognize our responsibility to translate his vision to reality”, said Mr. Adi Godrej, President, Confederation of Indian Industry in his address at the ‘Prof C K Prahalad Bust Unveiling Ceremony’ held at the CII Southern Region Headquarters here today.
Mr Godrej said, “CII worked very closely with Prof C K Prahalad in the India@75 initiative – an idea which was articulated by Prof. Prahalad during an event to commemorate the 60th year of Indian independence, at New York. Professor Prahalad charted out his vision for India@75 where India would have the world’s largest pool of trained manpower, became home for at least 30 of the Fortune 100 firms and accounted for 10 per cent of the global trade, among others.
Professor Prahalad was very passionate about India’s development, and has given so much time for India’s strategy on entrepreneurship, innovation and anything that relates to India, he added.
Mr G V Sanjay Reddy, Chairman, CII Southern Region, in his address said that Professor C K Prahalad’s principles became the guiding light for the Indian Industry and over the years, his vision has become visible through new generation of products and services across India. CII believes in Prof. Prahalad’s vision and passion for India to be a great economic force for the world to reckon with.
In her remarks, Mrs Gayathri Prahalad said, the unveiling of Prof C K Prahalad’s Bust is a path to the future. We are unleashing a movement that Dr Prahalad showed, that would gain India a place in the business world by providing us with concepts and tools and most of all by sparking our imagination and giving us the confidence that people can achieve anything they wanted. Quoting Prof Prahalad, Mrs Gayathri Prahalad said, ‘our investment has to be in education, imagining the future and finding the strength in modern leadership.
Prof Prahalad’s son, Mr Murali Prahalad and daughter Ms Deepa Prahalad remembered their father for his great dream for India@75, a vision that would make India a global leader by 2022. The family members recalled Prof Prahalad’s aspiration for an inclusive growth with equal opportunities for all and empowering the youth in building a modern India.
As part of Prof C K Prahalad’s Memorial Event, an Interactive Session was organised with Mr Adi Godrej, President, CII. Over 1200 students from institutions across Tamil Nadu participated at the session.
In his keynote address, Mr Adi Godrej, President, CII said, “Prof Prahalad was no ordinary thinker – he was an intellectual colossus. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Prof Prahalad turned the corporate world on its head through his pioneering concepts and ‘disruptive innovation’.
Mr Godrej said through the sound propositions of Prof Prahalad, CII embarked on a journey of creating a bottom-up vision for India at 75 with the larger objective of creating an inclusive India by 2022. CII has developed a national vision for India at 75. This is accompanied by 17 state-level vision documents, and 18 district development plans, he added.
As we commemorate Prof CK Prahalad today, we need to reflect on where our country is and where it can be. This would be the surest way to remember his legacy into the future, said Mr Godrej.
Mr Rajan R Navani, Chairman, CII National Committee on India@75 said Prof Prahalad identified six big opportunities for India@75. These include: India turning its population into a distinct advantage; becoming a home for at least 30 of Fortune 100 firms; account for 10% of world trade; becomes a source for global innovations; focus on the flowering of arts, science, and literature; and become the benchmark on how to cope with diversity. According to Prof Prahalad, these six opportunities when accomplished would change the influence of India around the world.
Mr Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII, in his remarks said, “Prof Prahalad helped corporate India realize five important dreams like making Indian businesses competitive, engaging India with the world with confidence, belief in values and ethics, empowering young people through CII-Young Indians initiative and the ambitious India@75 initiative.”
Mr R Dinesh, Chairman, CII Tamil Nadu State Council in his concluding remarks said that the interactive session reflected the aspirations of youth who aligned themselves with some of the key agendas that were part of Prof. Prahalad’s vision in achieving an inclusive growth across India by the year 2022.