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Shirish Sankhe, Haripriya Gundimeda, Brinda Jagirdar, S Jadhav and A Wig talk about Maximum City

Mumbai First, a corporate initiative with public-private participation hosted a discussion titled, ‘Mumbai @75: Is Mumbai still the Economic Powerhouse of India?' on Tuesday evening, at the Cricket Club of India (CCI) in South Mumbai. The talk focused on the trajectory of Mumbai's economic growth.

An expert panel looked at ‘economic powerhouse' through their lens. The panel comprised Dr Shirish Sankhe, senior partner, McKinsey & Co; Dr Brinda Jagirdar, former Chief Economist, SBI; Shankar Jadhav, MD at Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Investment Ltd. and Head of Strategy at BSE and Dr Haripriya Gundimeda, Prof., Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Bombay.

Look back

Mumbai First CEO, Dr Neville A Mehta began, "This is an occasion to look back in history and reminisce about the city's journey of glory and resilience." Mehta's address captured the spirit of the session moderated by Aarti Wig, as it was about looking back, analysing the current drivers of growth and talking about the future. Moderator Wig said at the outset, "Over the last 75 years, the Indian dream has been deeply intertwined with the Mumbai dream. Today, as we have this conversation against the backdrop of India's G20 presidency and her global economic aspirations, we have to ask ourselves: what are the key ingredients of a robust economic centre? Talent, institutions, corporate activity, infrastructure, climate change and equity. What will Mumbai look like for the next 75 years? Is it the first choice for the start- up entrepreneur? Has its real estate priced itself out of competition with cities like Bengaluru, Gurgaon and Pune? We have to ask ourselves what we have to do to ensure that the India-Mumbai story does not de-couple over the next 75 years."

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Welcome others

Dr Jagirdar said on an upbeat note, "As India's GDP grows it is very natural that India has and will have many more cities coming up as economic powerhouses. I think we need to welcome that and not be worried about it." The economist acknowledged, "Mumbai is still growing but we have to see how we can manage. Infrastructure, I will rate as the No. 1 issue. The second is the quality of life. It is not just the economy, it is the liveability index. From hospitals, schools, open spaces, playgrounds… upping that I think that will help us compete with others and governance is important too." Jagirdar said even while acknowledging challenges, "the transformation from a fishing village to a throbbing metropolis shows its quintessential resilience and ability to include all people and cultures, and embrace change in a fast-moving world."

Define it

"Whether Mumbai is an economic powerhouse or an economically prosperous powerhouse is what we should be asking," stated Dr Gundimeda. It was Mumbai yeah for Jadhav, MD, BSE Investments. He said, "Ask any Indian: which is the city of your dreams and they will say Mumbai. Every year, you see people coming to Mumbai. We have a development plan. We have infrastructure but the problem is that we are building mostly for the rich. We are saying we have cars passing on the highway, or freeway, trans harbour link or Sea link or whatever but we are not talking about the bottom of the pyramid. Mumbai has the largest number of slums of any city and these are the people the government should look at and support. We have a large workforce that needs to stay here. So the government has to provide something like cheaper housing for them."

Desi-videsi

Sankhe said, "It is not about beating our chest and saying we are bigger. Bigger in fact, does not necessarily mean better. When it comes to governance, funding… for instance, I was very impressed with our comprehensive travel plan made in 2006, putting money into Mumbai infrastructure I will call a hit, not a miss. The misses would be I think an economic masterplan and very effective, strong leadership and governance for the city." Sankhe pointed to the robust entertainment industry in Mumbai and called the city a sort of, "combination between Singapore, Dubai, Los Angeles and New York," as the experts ended and the interaction began.