Convocation Address by Sh. YASHWANT SINHA, Hon'ble Union Finance Minister, Govt. Of India on 27^th July,1999

Sh. G. P. Gupta, President, EDI and Members of Governing Body, Dear Students, ladies and gentlemen.

I am delighted to be here today for the convocation for the Post-Graduate Diploma. Let me first congratulate the students who have earned this diploma and those who have been awarded special recognition through other awards. I also want to recognize your families and teachers who have worked hard to support you.

I compliment the EDI and its Governing Board for conducting this diploma programme which focuses on entrepreneurship, covering such areas as new enterprise creation, entrepreneurial management, family business management and launching and managing an NGO. Each one is crucial.

The EDI has been spearheading entrepreneurship development throughout the nation with a belief that entrepreneurs need not necessarily be born but can be developed. Today I will talk to you on how to achieve this in our rapidly changing global economy. And how we must strive to create more global leaders like Zee Telefilms, Infosys, NIIT and Ispat.

Let us first examine the economic environment that you will have to deal with. Globalization and technology are transforming our economy. The process of globalization arises out of the interaction between market and technology related factors as well as economic policies at national and international levels. This in turn has exerted inordinate influence on the existing patterns of economic development in virtually every country.

Information technology has led to lowering of costs and the dramatic shortening of economic “distances”. New communication technologies have facilitated the diffusion of new production technologies at low cost, allowing faster and cheaper movements of goods and services. Advances in telecommunications and transport have helped to lower the costs of communication and transportation while the emergence of fax and global computer networks has drastically reduced economic significance of geography. At the same time, systematic rationalization of procedures and documentation for international trade, together with wider and easier dissemination of information about prices of traded goods has contributed to the convergence of market prices, resulting in fewer distinct markets.

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