Currently, the programme is organised into operational entities termed “clusters”, based on the functional areas or common challenges/ opportunities faced. Each of these clusters, led by an anchor company, will co-evolve the set of services that will be of common interest to the cluster members and will be responsible for achieving their objectives.

Initially, three clusters have been made operational. The Leadership Development & Talent Management cluster will be led by Infosys, India Advantage by Mahindra & Mahindra and Inorganic Growth by ICICI Bank.

Led by an initial set of companies, including Asian Paints, Bharat Forge, ICICI Bank, Infosys Technologies, Mahindra & Mahindra, McKinsey & Company and Harvard Business School Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor Tarun Khanna, a core set has been established. This set will act as the governing body for running the programme, under the aegis of CII.

The Core Set members include CII Indian MNCs Committee chairman and GVK Biosciences Chairman D S Brar, Asian Paints managing director Jalaj Dani, Mahindra & Mahindra president (HR) and Group Management Board member Rajeev Dubey, Bharat Forge Ltd executive director Amit Kalyani, Tarun Khanna, ICICI Bank deputy managing director Chanda Kochhar, Infosys Technologies co-founder and COO S D Shibulal, and McKinsey & Company managing director-India Adil Zainulbhai.

Providing an insight into the new initiative, Brar said “The aim is to create an ecosystem which can accelerate the creation of multinational corporations from India . By tapping into the “experiential expertise” of CII members, global Indian companies, emerging multinational corporations, strategic consulting firms and knowledge partners in academia, the initiative aims to provide a forum for learning, sharing and addressing common challenges of the globalisation journey, in an actionable format.”

Shibulal launched the initiative’s dedicated website www.indiaincgoingglobal.com. Stressing that speed is of essence in clinching M&A deals, Shibulal pointed out that “there is a need to create an ecosystem where Indian companies can learn from each other’s successes and how to avoid failures; that will help them succeed faster. This is a programme, which is unique, with success depending on the belief that it can work, participation by the members and the expectations from it. The programme is aimed at a wide set of companies. Size is not the bar, aspiration is the bar.”

Khanna emphasised that “we have reached a stage where Indian companies have reached a critical mass and are asking the question how they can go global. The time to go global is actually right now.”

Zainulbhai said that while it is natural for Indian companies to expand overseas, the speed at which it is happening is a lot faster than it used to be. “Previously, we had a 30-year cycle before they could reach that stage but now several companies are taking just 10 years,” he observed.

Kochhar said: “For the momentum in outwardly bound M&A deals to continue, a lot of facilitating is required in the form of funding, structuring, training, valuation exercises, understanding country risk and managing the entire financing. The focus of the inorganic growth cluster would be to find solutions and help corporates put these facilitating fundamentals in place.”