NEW DELHI: India is set to send a power-packed delegation to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in the Swiss ski resort town of Davos later this month, with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval likely to join at least four Union ministers — Ashwini Vaishnaw, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Pralhad Joshi and K Ram Mohan Naidu — who are confirmed to travel to Switzerland for the event.
Besides Doval and the union ministers, as many as six chief Ministers are also expected to be there, along with over 100 top chief executive officers (CEOs) of Indian companies, to attend the five-day annual event from January 18-24, which will be held under the theme of ‘a spirit of dialogue’.
The chief ministers include Devendra Fadnavis of Maharashtra, N Chandrababu Naidu of Andhra Pradesh, Himanta Biswa Sarma of Assam, Mohan Yadav of Madhya Pradesh, A Revanth Reddy of Telangana, and Jharkhand’s Hemant Soren.
Representation in the contingent from among the chief ministers is from across the country’s political spectrum, as Reddy is from Congress, Soren from Congress ally Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Naidu from Telugu Desam Party (an ally of BJP), the other three CMs are from BJP. Karnataka’s Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar (from Congress) is also expected to be there. Among the Union ministers, Naidu is from TDP, while the other four are from BJP.
According to officials, Gujarat’s Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Rameshbhai Sanghavi (from BJP) and a high-level delegation from Uttar Pradesh are also expected to travel to Davos for the annual event, which is attended by the rich and powerful from across the globe.
Among global leaders, US President Donald Trump is expected to be there along with his senior colleagues - Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Energy Secretary Chris Wright - while several state governors will also be participating.
More names are expected in the coming days for the global summit, which will host a record number of nearly 3,000 global leaders from close to 130 countries, including more than 60 heads of state.
The officials said that Indian leaders are expected to participate in several panel discussions, including one on ‘Can India become the third largest economy in the world’, hold bilateral meetings and also attend India-specific as well as global events on the sidelines of the main WEF meeting.
Business leaders from India expected in Davos for the annual congregation include Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani, Tata group’s N Chandrasekaran, Bajaj group’s Sanjiv Bajaj, Jubilant Bhartia Group’s Hari S Bhartia and TVS Motor’s Sudarshan Venu.
Other Indian corporate leaders expected to be there include Axis Bank’s Amitabh Chaudhry, Godrej Industries Group’s Nadir Godrej, JSW Group’s Sajjan Jindal, Zerodha’s Nikhil Kamath, Bharti group’s Sunil Bharti Mittal, Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, Infosys CEO Salik S Parekh, Wipro’s Rishad Premji, Essar CEO Prashant Ruia, Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma and Renew CEO Sumant Sinha.
Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade Secretary Amardeep Singh Bhatia, as well as several PSU heads, including Indian Oil Chairman Arvinder Singh Sahney, GAIL’s Sandeep Kumar Gupta, SBI’s Challa Sreenivasulu Setty and REC’s Jitendra Srivastava, will be attending the mega global event.
Former union minister Smriti Zubin Irani will also be there as founder and chairperson of Alliance for Global Good: Gender Equity and Equality, which was founded a few years ago in Davos itself.
From Pakistan, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will also be there.