Trumph Presents A Great Opportunity To Invest In America: Anand Mahindra

According to industrialist Anand Mahindra, US president Donald Trumph’s 'Make America great again' policy is going to make America a wonderful place to invest in. “The stock market is already cheering. Our group is going to double our bets on America because we think it is going to be very robust," Mahindra said at the concluding session of the 3-day annual Nasscom India Leadership Forum (NIFL) in Mumbai.

Comparing the theme of this year’s NIFL theme – ‘Reimagine, not re-engineer,’ with Trumph’s ‘Make America great again,’ Mahindra said, “Trump is out to reimagine his country and not the world.” "America is still powerful; it can wake up and keep us on edge."

"The reality is that his 'Make America great again ' policy is going to make America a wonderful place to invest in. Our group is going to double our bets on America because we think it is going to be very robust," Mahindra added.

In this background, Mahindra felt that India should become ‘the aap’ choice for the world. “Technology can be used to off-shore work to India, which will reduce dependency on H-1B visas as well as gain us improved margins,” he said.
Mahindra’s co-panelist for the session, Aditya Puri, managing director, HDFC Bank was upfront in stating that payment wallets like Paytm weren’t a ‘viable economic proposition.’

He pointed out that these payment wallets which are seen as competition to traditional banks, especially after the demonetisation drive had incurred significant losses and said that a business can’t be sustainable on the basis of cash-backs that are given to customers to lure them. “It won’t be easy for Paytm to copy the model of ‘Alibaba’ since Indian regulations will make it doing so difficult,” Puri said.

Puri further said about his own business, “HDFC Bank was increasingly making use of chatbots, robotics and automation and artificial intelligence in our banking operations to reach potential customers more easily and in a cost-effective way.” Banks like HDFC Bank will become a provider of loans, payment services and also ecommerce, going forward, Puri concluded.