Aditya Birla Group
Hindustan Times Leadership Summit 2023

Over the years, India has faced many barriers. Some were mental barriers, others were perceptional barriers, and few were exaggerated barriers. Since 2014, we have been trying to go beyond these barriers.

- Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India

A decade ago, India was perceived as one of the hurdles in climate action. But today, we are leading the world in climate action.

- Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India

India is now breaking all barriers and even reached moon where no one has been able to reach. India is also #1 in digital transactions. We are a leader in mobile manufacturing. In start-ups, we are globally at #3 spot. We are hosting global events such as G20. We are moving #BeyondBarriers.

- Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India

International relations is a fundamentally competitive exercise and part of the competition is to make other people believe it's not competitive. We should not shrink from accepting that this is the fundamental basis of diplomacy or world politics.

- External Affairs Minister, S. Jaishankar

The world is suboptimal right now. We in India need to be realistic. The world is difficult, it will be difficult. Therefore, we need stable leadership, preparation, and systemic changes. We are in a storm and there is no guarantee that it is going to get any better.

- External Affairs Minister, S. Jaishankar

In the last decade, India has moved up visibly in terms of global order. When you travel around the world, the expectations of the rest of the world now are very different.

- External Affairs Minister, S. Jaishankar

The stronger India is as a technology hub, we have much more to offer to the world.

- External Affairs Minister, S. Jaishankar

If one looks at the last decade, one could find many adjectives of differing degrees. Fundamentally, this country has become more competitive and complex. We have reached a level where we don't duck the problem.

- External Affairs Minister, S. Jaishankar

On wearing her wedding outfit for the National Awards ceremony

One has to be mindful that you don't have to always buy a new outfit. For me, it was a special outfit that befits a special moment.

- Alia Bhatt, actor and entrepreneur

There is a perception that when actors turn entrepreneurs, they actually don't do much than investing money or time. This was not the case with my venture. I was the sole-founder. There was a gap in the market which we turned into an opportunity.

- Alia Bhatt, actor and entrepreneur

Today, all branches at IAF are open to women officers…I personally feel if you just see the numbers and see the growth where we are now vis-à-vis when we started the induction. We have grown a lot.

- Group Captain Shaliza Dhami of the Indian Air Force

Navy was one of the first to induct women officers…The Navy has now adopted the vision, 'All roles, for all ranks, for all women.' All branches of the Navy are open to women.

- Lieutenant Commander Annu Prakash of the Indian Navy

Recently permanent commission has been granted to women officers, followed by the command roles and promotions. These are significant turning points for women in the Indian Army.

- Colonel Neha Singh of the Indian Army

The dimension of warfare itself is undergoing a change. In the coming times, women are likely to get more decision-making roles in such dimensions.

- Colonel Neha Singh of the Indian Army

When we are dealing with the issue of national security, it is unfair to talk about numbers and percentages. We should talk more about gender inclusivity - how women can be included in the armed forces and what roles they can play.

- Colonel Neha Singh of the Indian Army

We need to evolve from the colonial-era model and making judiciary more accessible to people. The use of FASTER software allows court orders to reach even the remotest jails, demonstrating a commitment to open the justice system to citizens.

- Chief Justice of India, Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud

One of the key things we have been doing recently is translating over 31,000 Supreme Court judgements using AI tool to other Indian languages. The idea is to make it more accessible to legal professionals across the country #BeyondBarriers of language. The idea is to make it more accessible to legal professionals across the country #BeyondBarriers of language.

- Chief Justice of India, Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud

There are structural barriers at entry at legal professions. We need to redefine "merit" in a more inclusive sense, ensuring opportunities for the marginalized.

- Chief Justice of India, Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud

I want India to become a superpower in javelin! If you want to play for a long time, there will come a time someone will take over and your performance might deteriorate. But I've already accepted that. I want an Indian athlete to beat me and keep our Indian flag flying high.

- Neeraj Chopra, Indian athlete and Olympic gold medallist

On OTT shows vs Theatrical films

They're definitely going to coexist. Theatre or the Magic of Cinema has its own place. The OTT, leaving a pandemic aside, came to become what it did because of the content. It carries the opportunity for all creative people attached to it to go beyond what they've been doing in terms of a platform as theatre or cinemas.

- Sushmita Sen, Actor

Chris Miller, the author of 'Chip War

I think India certainly has a very good chance of becoming part of the global semiconductor ecosystem. There's a very large number of semiconductor design experts in India right now…The question is, can that design ecosystem be further developed? Can more design-focused firms be established in India? Also in other segments of the supply chain like the manufacturing or the assembly. The challenge is that there's competition in every step of the supply chain.

- Chris Miller, the author of 'Chip War

Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister for Railways, Communications, Electronics & IT

Our 4G and 5G stack has been developed, tested and will be soon deployed. We have already become exporters of Telecom equipment. Close to INR 6,000 Cr worth exports have already happened close to 70 countries. By next Diwali, India will also become an exporter of telecom technology.

- Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister for Railways, Communications, Electronics & IT

On semiconductor industry opportunity

The entire industry globally is about US$ 650 billion. It is going to double in the next six to seven years to more than a trillion dollars. When we look at our strengths and capabilities, the biggest strength is design. The second is clean power, green power. The third is the ability to handle very complex liquids and chemicals. These are three large strengths which place us in a sweet-spot, where we can become a player which is designing and manufacturing chips.

- Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister for Railways, Communications, Electronics & IT

On India's high-speed train aspirations

When we develop the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed corridor, and in future there will be many more such corridors, what we are doing, in essence, is we are connecting Mumbai, Thane, Vapi, Baroda, Ahmedabad, Surat, Anand -- all these large economies, which in themselves are very vibrant and rapidly growing, they all become one large economy.

- Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister for Railways, Communications, Electronics & IT

On decarbonisation of railways

India does about 4,000 million ton of cargo. Out of that Railway does about 1500 million tonnes. As we go forward by 2030, we'll be doing about 8,000 million. Imagine if this entire cargo was supposed to be done using trucks using diesel engines...So soon railways will 100% electrified. So our dependence on diesel for Railways is gone then adding more cargo carrying. Then, we will add more capacity to Railways by laying new tracks by manufacturing more locomotives and wagons. And by shifting a large part of cargo from road to rail in effect what we are achieving is energy Independence.

- Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister for Railways, Communications, Electronics & IT