Back to the Landmark Hotel Marylebone for day two of the investment forum. It was less well attended than day one when it seemed that far more people turned up than the organisers had been expecting, but it was all the same no less useful. Opening up India’s economy seemed to be the theme of the day with this as one of the major themes in the financial industry panel and the disparities between how Indian companies are treated abroad and how foreign companies are treated in India discussed in the subsequent panel. The somewhat surprising acquisition of Ranbaxy Laboratories by the Japanese pharmaceutical firm Daiichi Sankyo was covered in the pharmaceutical industry panel. The day finished with lunch during which S (who I first met at the lunch on 22 June 2008 and who also happened to be attending the conference) and I were joined at our table by a lady who described herself as a fund manager at HSBC. She was there with her daughter who said she was shadowing her mum for the week. When they got up to leave and the mother gave us her business card we discovered that she was in fact the Head of Global Equities at HSBC Asset Management.

Reflecting on that incident I am reminded of the significance that the passing of knowledge from parent to child can have in the child’s eventual success. Examples of this transfer and the great achievements that precede and result are abound in sports and the arts. But the subcontinent seems to have a virtual monopoly on this in business with its dynasties: the only two examples in the west that immediately come to mind are the Murdoch’s and Tom Hartley’s. And discussion of this, so prominent in the culture and fabric of India, seemed to be the only thing that was missing from the conference.