Manorama Business Summit

All-out govt support for profitable businesses a must for new Kerala model: VK Mathews

Kochi: An all-out effort to support profitable enterprises that can provide well-paid jobs should be the top priority of the government to set up a new environment of growth, top industrialist V K Mathews said here on Wednesday. Mathews, the executive chairman of IBS Software Services, one of the pioneer IT companies in Kerala, was delivering the keynote address at the Malayala Manorama Sampadyam Kerala Business Summit.

Mathews stressed on the need for creating an entrepreneurial-friendly atmosphere as he rolled out his list of five top priorities government institutions should look into in order to chalk out a new Kerala model through an innovative business approach.

“There should be all efforts from the government to the local to support profitable enterprises with well-paying jobs. If you really want to be a social welfare, then you must have a healthy tax collection. And that comes only from profitable enterprises and well-paying jobs,” he said.

The other priorities he listed were good infrastructure, world-class citizen services, social infrastructure and care for the elderly population.

He also shared a few pieces of advice to his fellow entrepreneurs to sustain. They included the need to have a global perception, a customer-first approach and the right kind of systems and processes. He also emphasised the need to comply with the rules and regulations fully. “You will never be able to grow your companies if you violate the laws even if they are obsolete,” he warned.

Mathews then called upon aspiring entrepreneurs to be clear about their purpose and have a focused vision. He also highlighted the need to have mentors and investors. 

Mathews, who is known as a thought leader in the global aviation industry, was optimistic about the growth trajectory of India and Kerala as he addressed the business community. 

“India is among the very few countries where you see still a lot of smiling and optimistic people. If you go to Europe or the US, you don’t see that optimism. Economically, the world is struggling big time. Look at the G&7 countries. They have not grown much in the last four years since Covid. In fact, if I take the five countries other than Canada and the US, their total growth in four years is zero. The US has done the best at 7 per cent over four years and Canada at 2.5 per cent. India, whereas, by the end of this year, is expected to see around 16 per cent growth,” he said.

Quoted McKinsey & Co CEO Bob Sternfels he said: “It will not just be India's decade, but India's century, with all key components in place.”

Sampadyam, Malayala Manorama’s business and finance magazine, organised the business meet in association with the Bank of Baroda. Sreejith Kottarathil, general manager and zonal head at Bank of Baroda, also spoke at the inaugural session. He shared Mathews’ optimism about the economy and exuded confidence about Kerala’s prospects in what he termed an ongoing transition period. He was all praise for the talent pool that is available in Kerala.

P H Kurien, chairman, K-RERA; Prince George, CEO, Doha Brokerage and Financial Services, Manoj Mathew, CFO, Unimoni; and Joy Mathew, vice president – of marketing services and solutions, Malayala Manorama also attended the inaugural session. 

AI, realty among discussion points
The business meet witnessed though-provoking discussions on a wide range of topics covering AI, real estate and funding.

T Koshy, CEO, Open Network for Digital Commerce; Mathew Joseph, COO, Freshtohome Foods; and Vimal Govind, MD and CEO of Genrobotics spoke at the session on Embracing digitlaisation with the power of AI.

P H Kurian IAS (retd), chairman, Kerala Real Estate Regulatory Authority (K-Rera); and Sunil Kumar V, founder and MD, Asset Homes spoke at a session on Role of real estate and K-Rera in Kerala development. Uthara Ramakrishnan moderated the session.

Nimisha J Vadakkan, co-founder and MD, Aceware Fintech Service; Dr Arun Oommen, senior consultant, neurosurgeon, VPS Lakeshore; and Joseph Babu, CMO, Riafy Technologies participated in the discussion on ‘Kerala’s trending new businesses: Finance, IT, healthcare.

Rajesh Malhotra, chief general manager, Bank of Baroda and Himanshu Srivastava, senior manager, south region, NSE spoke on the topic ‘Fund for future – Business growth’.

The final session was on the topic ‘From Kerala to the global business arena’. Jackson Mathew, director, Leetha Industries; John Kuriakose, founder and MD, Dentcare; and Ginu Francis, technical head, Altivate Global spoke at the session.

Salini Babu, cash manager services in-charge, Bank of Baroda zonal office, Ernakulam and Rajyasree S, editor-in-charge, Sampadyam also spoke at the event.