Jagdish Sheth in Calcutta on Tuesday. Picture by Sanjay Chattopadhyay

Calcutta, Jan. 31: Jagdish Sheth believes that India has to leverage its human capital and locational advantage with the help of the government as well as industry for a stronger global presence.

Sheth, who is the Charles H. Kellstadt Professor of Marketing in the Goizueta Business School at Emory University, was the keynote speaker at the 6th Jehangir Ghandy Memorial Lecture, organised by the Calcutta Management Association, in association with The Telegraph, here today.

“This century will be driven by market demands and economy, unlike the 20th century, which was fuelled by ideology. The three economies that will shape the world will be those of China, America and India. The relationship among the three nations makes for a fascinating study, since the concepts of free market economy will be defined by them,” said Sheth.

He feels that economic pragmatism, ageing of traditional affluent markets in western countries and the build-up of information infrastructure in China and India are forces that will shape global economies in the 21st century and lay the groundwork for international trade.

The seminar also had a panel discussion on Making India Globally Competitive. ABP Pvt Ltd managing director Pramath Raj Sinha said the education scenario in India needs a serious makeover for the country to take advantage of the explosive growth that is taking place in every sector. “The real problem is that we do not have enough teachers to teach at our institutes,” he added. Skytech Solutions CEO D.K. Chaudhuri was also present.