On a balmy morning at the Bolgatty island in Kochi, some of the best minds in business met at the Malayala Manorama Sampadyam Kerala Business Summit 2025. In his inaugural address, former Union Minister and entrepreneur Rajeev Chandrasekhar announced that whatever the sector of business, “without technology, you are dead”, as he highlighted the latest trends in the Indian economy.
“Investments, today, will go where the talent is, and talent goes where the opportunities are”, Chandrasekhar added, highlighting the need for Kerala to create future-proof talent and retain them in the state.
(From left) Varghese Chandy, VP of marketing at Malayala Manorama; Jayant Mammen Mathew, Executive Editor and Director of Malayala Manorama; former Union Minister and entrepreneur Rajeev Chandrasekhar; Sreejith Kottarathil, GM and Zonal Head of Bank of Baroda; Shaji Varghese, CEO of Muthoot Fincorp and Prince George, MD of DBFS | Malayala Manorama
Doubling down on the “transitional time” the country is going through, Chandrasekhar talked about how even global events such as Donald Trump taking oath as the new US president in the coming week have a major international impact.
Chandrasekhar stressed the need to embrace technology, recalling how the Brazilian government invited him to discuss their ongoing digitisation strategy.
He recalled how digitisation was driving a major change in the Indian economy, especially since 2014. Before it, “India, and Kerala, were centred around 5-10 conglomerates…” The country was “dependent on the public sector and just these conglomerates” and globally on the WTO, making China a major influencer across the globe.
However, the architecture of the Indian economy has changed and is thriving on the backbone of “a larger ecosystem” of entrepreneurs, companies, and technocrats. Internationally, more and more nations, including India, adopted a larger “China plus one” strategy, thereby reducing the Chinese influence on global trade and commerce.
Thanking Malayala Manorama and Jayant Mammen Mathew, Executive Editor and Director of Malayala Manorama, the former minister talked about the relevance of the “Grow Global, Think Global” summit, especially in such changing times of India, and Kerala, in particular.
Mathew addressed the gathering, talking about how Kerala has always been a pioneer state in entrepreneurship and resources, especially in the fields of gold, finance, and the startup ecosystem.
GM and zonal head of Bank Of Baroda, Sreejith Kottarathil, was felicitated at the inauguration, and he lauded the event for bringing the best minds of business together.
The second edition of the Kerala Business Summit was supported by Muthoot Fincorp, along with the Bank of Baroda, DBFS, and CIAL.
