Women’s health, India’s success story took centre stage at Davos

THE annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) at the Swiss ski resort of Davos is as high-powered as you can get. Over 60 heads of state attended it this year. Delegates from business houses, government, civil society, academia and media annually put their heads together to figure out how the global economic landscape is likely to evolve during the year and how to take it in the right direction.

Moving away from some of the usual concerns that businesses have over matters of government regulation, taxation and free flow of trade, the delegates assembled this year highlighted the importance of women’s health in order to successfully pursue prosperity. The calculations done by global consultancy McKinsey indicate that a policy focus on women’s empowerment, ensuring their better health, could add a trillion dollars to the global economy annually by 2040.

Over the past two centuries, from 1800 to 2018, global life expectancy has remarkably increased from 30 years to 73. However, the full picture reveals that women spend 25 per cent more of their lives than men in poor health — nine years altogether — affecting their ability to be productive at home, in the workforce and the community, thus reducing their earning potential. Addressing this gap could lift more women out of poverty, enabling them to better provide for themselves and their families. This, among other benefits, would translate into increased opportunities for business.

Remarkably, the concerns of civil society — focusing on health, equity and inclusivity — and business houses, which have traditionally been at loggerheads, appear to be converging. Another key takeaway this year was the realisation of the need for a special focus on India. Rapidly transforming, it has become the fastest-growing major economy globally. Decision-makers in the country are looking ahead to create a land of sustainable, inclusive growth and opportunity. McKinsey engaged with some of the country’s thought leaders to understand how priorities could be balanced to drive growth over the next 25 years.

Nandan Nilekani, one of the founders of Infosys and its current non-executive chairman, has a message for entrepreneurs and leaders around the world: “Use technology in a way that benefits people.” This is how he resolves the balance between the public and private sectors. While markets play a huge role in enabling the adoption of digital technology, some things must be provided as public infrastructure. “If a billion people can use something, then that’s a benefit. A billion people can learn, get better healthcare and change jobs using technology,” he added. India is currently on a journey between the last 10 years and the next “when we will see a lot more and newer ways of using digital technology for public good”.

Nilekani has not only made a prediction but has also outlined the accelerating growth of the IT services industry. It took 30 years for it reach $100 billion in revenue. The next $100 billion came in 10 years. The third $100 billion will come in three to four years. The industry took 40 years to reach 4.5 million employees. The number is expected to reach nine to 10 million people in the next 10 years. This is a very bold prediction at a time when the IT industry’s leading firms are downsizing and calling a pause on campus recruitment because of the way work in the sector is getting automated with the use of artificial intelligence.

Another Indian business practitioner and thought leader that McKinsey spoke to in figuring out how the Indian economy will keep growing is GV Prasad, co-chairman and managing director of Indian pharma multinational Dr Reddy’s Laboratories. What drives him is the belief that science and technology have the power to innovate, cure diseases and improve overall human health and wellbeing. Reflecting on the past and trying to peep into the future, he recalled that the Indian pharmaceutical industry had become proficient in developing generic products. However, if it wants to “innovate and bring new therapies and biology-based medicines, such as antibodies and novel cell and gene therapies to India, our expertise needs to go up exponentially”.

Then, he outlined a key difference between the software services sector and the pharmaceutical industry. In the case of the former, the government’s successful role, which began when Manmohan Singh became Finance Minister, was to stay out of harm’s way and allow the industry to proceed without interference from a government that had, until then, operated under a licence permit raj. However, Prasad advocates for regulators to become enablers, assisting the industry in designing its “clinical development pathways and understanding how to bring innovation for patients in India. They should offer guidance to the industry on how to innovate effectively. Today, most of the companies look at the United States Food and Drug Administration or the European agencies to get guidance on drug development”. Also, there is a need to enhance funding for clinical development, and investors must understand the whole investment cycle involved in building an innovative pipeline. This is critical as most molecules that are taken up for development fail. Therefore, investors need to exercise patience and gain a deep understanding of the industry to effectively finance its development into the future.

If this is the new ground covered in Davos this year — showcasing concern for women’s health and recognising India as a success story to watch — some conventional insights have also emerged. One is that businesses must become sustainable, avoiding leaving behind a massive carbon footprint that hinders the journey towards achieving net-zero emissions. Companies taking early action to reposition themselves in relation to competitors — such as steel mills transitioning from blast furnaces fuelled by fossil fuels to operating electric arc furnaces powered by green technology — will emerge as the winners.

Secondly, companies must learn how to use generative artificial intelligence, which is developing at a phenomenal speed to transform functions such as sales and marketing, customer operations and software development. Those that succeed in doing so will unlock trillions of dollars in value in sectors as diverse as financial services and life sciences. So, this year, the WEF meet was not just a talking shop of business bigwigs enjoying the surroundings of a Swiss resort — it generated some new thoughts too.